Recipe for "potstickers"

NAME

     POTSTICKERS - Delicious Northern Chinese snack and  hacker's
     staple
     Hackers on both coasts  and  most  places  in  between  love
     potstickers  (though  if  you're  from  the Right Coast, you
     probably know them as Peking Ravioli, or  just  ravs.   This
     recipe  is  based  on  one  found  in Chef Chu's Distinctive
     Cuisine of  China.   Total  preparation  time  is  about  45
     minutes.  They don't come out as good as the ones from Cho's
     in Mountain View, but if you don't happen to  be  within  45
     minutes of Mountain View, they'll do very nicely, thank you.

INGREDIENTS (Makes about 2 dozen)

          DOUGH
     200 g     all-purpose flour
     125 ml    water
          FILLING
     250 g     ground pork
     1/2          small Chinese (Napa) cabbage, cored and chopped
     1         green onion, coarsely chopped
     2         thumb-sized slices fresh ginger, minced
     2         water chestnuts, chopped
     5 ml      salt
     2.5 ml    sugar
     0.5 ml    white pepper
     5 ml      sesame oil
          TO COOK
     75 ml     vegetable oil
     250 ml    water
          SAUCE
               hot chili oil
               red rice vinegar
               soy sauce

PROCEDURE

          (1)  In a bowl, combine flour and water, mixing to form
               a  ball.  Remove to a floured board and knead with
               your palm for about 3 minutes.  Shape into a ball,
               cover  with  a damp towel, and let stand for about
               10 minutes.
          (2)  Make  the  filling  by   combining   the   Filling
               ingredients  above.   Refrigerate  until  ready to
               use.
          (3)  To shape and assemble, knead  dough  for  about  3
               minutes.   Roll  into a cylinder that is about 2.5
               cm in diameter.  Cut off the ends, then  cut  into
               about  24  pieces, each about 1 cm wide.  With the
               cut side up, press the dough down with  your  palm
               to  flatten.   Use  a rolling pin to make pancakes
               about 6-7 cm in diameter.  (They get  quite  thin;
               that's what you want.)
          (4)  Spoon 15 ml of filling into  the  center  of  each
               pancake.   Fold the dough over to make a half cir-
               cle and pleat the edges firmly together.
          (5)  To pan-fry, heat cast-iron or  other  heavy-bottom
               skillet  over moderate heat.  Add 50 ml oil, swir-
               ling to coat bottom. (Watch out, it sizzles  quite
               a  bit. Don't get burned!)  When oil is hot, place
               potstickers, seam side up, in skillet and  agitate
               (shake) for 30 seconds.  Pour in water, cover, and
               gently boil over moderate heat for 7 to 8 minutes.
               When  oil and water start to sizzle, add remaining
               25 ml oil. Tip skillet to distribute  oil  evenly;
               watch  carefully  (uncovered) to prevent sticking.
               When bottoms are brown  (usually  several  minutes
               later),  remove  from  heat and carefully lift out
               potstickers with spatula.
          (6)  To serve, turn potstickers over (dark side up) and
               arrange  on  serving  platter.  Combine chili oil,
               vinegar, and soy sauce in proportions to suit your
               taste and offer sauce for dipping.  Alternatively,
               cut up a hot chili pepper into red rice vinegar.

NOTES

     You can freeze uncooked potstickers for later  use,  if  you
     squeeze  out  the  water from the cabbage during preparation
     (in  a  colander   or   cheesecloth).   Freeze   potstickers
     separately  on  cookie  sheets  until firm, then put them in
     plastic bags.
     When rolling out the pancakes, leave  the  centers  slightly
     thicker than the edges. A thicker center will hold up better
     during the browning.
     If you prefer, steam potstickers for about 12  minutes  over
     boiling  water  instead  of pan-frying.  (No self-respecting
     hacker would be caught eating steamed potstickers, though.)
     These are really not  hard  to  make,  and  come  out  quite
     nicely!  Following  the dough recipe above leads to a fairly
     dry and floury dough; this makes it hard  to  roll  out  and
     pleat.  Feel free to add a little more water. There are also
     now commercially available potsticker presses that take care
     of  folding and pleating; they're cheap and plastic and work
     rather well.
     The perfect potsticker is uniformly brown with a thick brown
     area  on  the  bottom (where it sticks to the pot); it seems
     that achieving this only comes with practice.  I tend to fry
     both sides a bit before adding the water; this helps. Beware
     of too much heat; the bottom will bubble  and  crack.   This
     doesn't taste any different, but doesn't look as nice.
     If you don't cook the whole batch at once, store the  potst-
     ickers so that they don't touch; the dough tends to stick to
     itself, so the potstickers may tear as you remove them.
     Many restaurants serve Hoy Sin sauce instead of hot sauce.

RATING

     Difficulty: moderate.  Time: 45 minutes.  Precision: measure
     the ingredients.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Chris Kent
     DEC Western Research Lab, Palo Alto, California
     kent@decwrl.DEC.COM {ihnp4,ucbvax,decvax}!decwrl!kent