Have you ever made your own potstickers?

[pscot]

I've got some duck confit that I'm thinking about turning into pot stickers. Watching a Chinese cook do it on You tube, it looks dead easy, but I'd like to hear that from someone who's actually done it at home.

[bif]

1. Did it at a friend's house who's Chinese-American

And it was pretty easy!

[pinto]

2. I make them at home. Use store bought wonton wrappers and any variety of fillings.

Pretty simple - fill, moisten the edges with water or egg whites, fold and seal firmly. You can go fancier on the fold - crimp the edges to make a curvy edge and bring the corners together to make a "crown" when stood upright.

I steam them first. Drain well. Then brown in a saute pan. They can be deep fried real quickly as well, if you have the set up to do that.

My main mistake has been overfilling the wonton wrapper. Doesn't come out well. These are meant to be tasty bites not dumplings. Yet even the mistakes come out pretty good.

Have fun!

[cbayer]

3. I have. I used round moo-shu wrappers.

The key is in getting them completely sealed. If they leak, they just don't come out well.

Love pot stickers and some with a duck confit sound heavenly.

[pscot]

6. Doesn't it sound good?

I'm not doing it today, but I'll post an add to this thread when I do.

[Warpy]

4. Absolutely. I learned out of a book and refined my technique

thanks to lessons from visiting scientists from northeast China.

It really is dead easy. You can use an eight inch length of one inch dowel if you can't find an authentic Chinese rolling pin at an Asian grocery. You really do need the small one to roll the dough out properly, thin on the edges and with what they call a "belly" of thicker dough in the middle.

I used to bang out at least 200 at a time, freezing them for use later. Needless to say, I worked my speed up pretty quickly.

There are two really great ways to cook them: boiling and putting them into a pan with chicken stock and cooking until all the stock has evaporated and caramelized on the bottom of the pan and the dumplings. The latter are the classic pot stickers.

I used to do two dipping sauces, one hot and one vinegary. For myself, I just do the hot one.

[pscot]

5. I wondered about that belly

It seemed like they were leaving the middle thicker than the edges in the videos I looked at. If this goes well it could become a staple around here. It seems like a good way to make a little meat go a long way.

[Warpy]

7. The recipe I used was one part pork (I used turkey), one part shrimp

and 2 parts diced Napa cabbage, all seasoned with soy, ginger, scallion, dark sesame oil, and garlic and packed raw into the wrappers.

[BlueToTheBone]

12. Do you boil them AND cook them

in a pan with chicken stock, or is it OR cook them in a pan? Sounds great and I have some wrappers ready to go.

[Warpy]

13. It's OR. By the time the chicken stock in the pan has evaporated

and started to caramelize, the tops have been steamed and the bottoms fried and caramelized along with the stock.

Or you can boil the frozen ones, Chinese style. Boil water, plop in frozen dumplings. As soon as the water comes back to the boil, dump in a cup of water. Repeat x2 and they're done. You don't want a rolling boil, you'll get a mushy soup.

[BlueToTheBone]

14. Thanks, I like the chicken stock method

I'm going to try and make my own. Wish me luck!

[grasswire]

8. yep

I've also done tempura dinner for twenty on a Coleman stove.

Be fearless! Experiment!

[Callalily]

9. Yup, and they were

marvelous!

[Alenne]

10. They are so easy, I am able to make the potsticker wrappers from scratch.

Even easier if you buy the wrappers but I like the texture of the homemade ones. Homemade potstickers are delicious.

[Gormy Cuss]

11. Yes, and duck confit is a perfect filling.

I do use a dumpling crimper though.
http://www.chefscatalog.com/product/27477-stainless-steel-ravioli-pierogi-dumpling-maker-large.aspx

Much easier than hand crimping. Truth be told I also use store-bought wrappers most of the time because they're good and easier than a hand made dough.

The key thing for me is frying them first then letting them steam to finish. When I get that right they're better than restaurant quality.

[Alameda]

15. I've made many

but the version I make is called Manta and is done in Turkey, Afghanistan or other places where there has been a Turkic influence. It is believed it spread from China via the Mongols, Marco Polo to Italy where they are now raviolis.

I make my own dough and stuff they with a variety of different stuffing. They are great to freeze for later use. Lately I've been doing it with half garbanzo bean flour and regular wheat flour. When I roll them out I use tapioca or rice flour as those flours don't stick as much as more glutinous ones.

If you freeze them on a board for a while you can then take them off and put them in containers to cook later. I either boil them or pan fry them.