Potstickers

This started innocently enough. I had dinner at a Chinese dumpling house with my friend Dave Gilbert instead of watching the "Presidential" debate. I was left with a hankering for some more. I like them so much. And my favorites are steam fried

As it happened, Madame had found an amazing deal on pork chops - we had some pan fried with an onion/apple side, another time we had some with a smoked paprika dusting - again pan fried but with apple, green beans, almonds garlic on the side. And still we had some left over - about 12 oz as it turned out.

I had also made a very hearty beef stew for a friend who is very ill. So had a chunk of salt pork too. Now all I needed were the wonton (gyoza) skins, kaffir lime, lemon grass, Napa cabbage, hot peppers, soy sauce, sesame oil, sake, ginger, and scallions As it happens all that I had to buy were the skins, scallions and the Napa cabbage. Everything else either grows in the garden or is a pantry staple.

Now I am generally lazy, so I was looking for a way to get everything to the size I wanted. The meat grinder (mincer) attachment to my stand mixer did the trick. Who knew that you could put the various ingredients in, and let it do the work?

Ingredients

2 cups Napa cabbage, shredded, salted and drained

12 oz lean pork cubed

5 oz salt pork, cubed

2 stalks lemon grass, cut into 1 inch lengths

1 1/2" piece of ginger, peeled and cut into small pieces

2 kaffir lime leaves - woody spine reoved

6 scallions - white and light green parts cut into 1/2" pieces

2 hot Thai peppers - minced

A couple of grinds of white pepper

2T toasted Sesame oil

36 Wonton skins

1T neutral oil for frying the dumplings

Method

Pass half of the salt pork through the grinder. Follow with the ginger. Then half of the lean pork. Follow with the lemon grass. Add the rest of the salt pork then the scallions, kaffir lime leaves peppers. Finish with the rest of the lean pork. Doing them in this order means that the meat has the opportunity to push the aromatics through the grinder. Once all the ingredients have passed through the grinder, add the seame oil into the bowl. Mix up the contents until almost pasty. It wants to be quite tightly textured. Break off a small piece of the mixture and microwave on high for 45 seconds (until cooked through). This will allow you to check the seasoning.

Unfortunately I could only find square wonton skins, so had to improvise. 

I placed the wonton skins onto a cutting board. 1 1/2 teaspoons of filling into the center. Brush all the edges with warm water, and fold to look like this

Cover with a damp cloth until they are ready to cook.

To cook them, heat the neutral oil in a skillet until almost smoking. Place the dumlings into the hot pan, flat side down. They will take about a minute to brown. Check the bottom for doneness. When they are suitably brown, put in 3T of water and innediately cover the pan tightly. Steam for 90 seconds, remove the lid and allow the pan to dry out. Then another 3T of water, tight covering and 90 seconds. Remove the lid and evaporate the water. 

Serve immediately with a dippimg sauce.

Ingredients - Dipping Sauce

1/4 Cup soy sauce

3T Mirin

3T Sake

1T Toasted sesame oil

2 Thai chillis finely chopped

The green parts of the scallions from above

Method - Dipping Sauce

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and leave to stand for the flavors to meld.