Thursday, March 29, 2012

Chicken Pot Stickers--雞肉鍋貼/餃子—With Video Tutorial

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I’m sure many of you have ordered pot stickers when you dine out at Asian restaurants.  Pot Stickers, 餃子 in Chinese, are dumplings originated in China and widely spread to the rest of Asia.  Pot stickers usually consist of ground meat and/or vegetable filling wrapped into a piece of thinly rolled dough.  Boil or pan fry and serve with a soy-vinegar dipping sauce.  Don’t worry, I won’t make you roll your own dough from scratch today! hahaha….I love the pre-made pot sticker wraps because they are convenient and much thinner than rolling your own dough at home.


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Ingredients for these pot sticker are very simple.  In this particular recipe, I used ground chicken with cabbage.  You can definitely use any kind of meat you like, ground pork, turkey, even minced shrimp or a mixture of any two.  Ground chicken and pork fillings are the more traditional ones.  I sautéed the shredded cabbage, let it cool and mixed into the chicken along with other marinates to create the filling.  When you’re ready to wrap the pot stickers, have the following items ready.  From the picture below, going clock-wise starting from the top left, the fillings, a pair of chopsticks (if you get good control of them) or use a spoon to scoop the fillings, a small bowl of water that works as “glue” for the wraps, a lightly floured mat/sheet pan for the wrapped pot stickers to land onto, a piece of napkin (yes, wrapping and filling can get messy sometimes, I rather be prepared) and last but not least, the pot sticker wraps.


Ingredients

Simple enough, right?  Winking smile  And oh, thanks to this fry-steam method, cooked pot stickers are golden brown and crispy on the outside, tender and juicy inside.  Don’t worry, we’ll get into all these juicy details with a video below.  Look at these pot stickers.  Aren’t they calling your name?  They are certainly calling mine….especially I know how scrumptious they are.  I’m so glad I still have another batch in the freezer waiting for me whenever I’m ready to cook them.  Oh yes, they freeze really well and I’ll tell you how to do that in the recipe below.  Best of all, you don’t (and should not) need to defrost them before cooking!


Close Up

Ready to watch the video?  Click away, it’s a short video and so worth watching.  I’ll show you all the important steps in filling, wrapping, and cooking these pot stickers.  Smile




See, no hoops to jump through, right?!  From now on, you don’t have to order the pot stickers from the restaurants.  These will definitely taste better than the restaurants’ or the store-bought ones!   Winking smile At least, my hubby said so!  (he’s such a smart man…hahaha…)


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Chicken Pot Stickers (Printable Recipe)
Makes: 44

Ingredients for Pot Stickers:

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil, divided
1 cup cabbage, shredded
3/4 pound ground chicken
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon Shao Hsing rice wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon powder/granules 
1 (12 oz) package of Pot Sticker Wraps


To Make the Pot Stickers:

In a sauté pan, heat 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil over medium high heat. Sauté cabbage until soften, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
In a medium mixing bowl, add chicken, ginger, pepper, sesame oil, rice wine, soy sauce, sugar and chicken bouillon powder and stir until seasonings are well distributed. Stir in cooled cabbage and set aside.

When ready to wrap the pot stickers, have a small bowl of water for sealing the wrappers and a lightly floured baking sheet close by so the wrapped pot stickers have a place to land. Pick up a piece of wrap, dip your finger into the water and wet the edges of the wrap. Then, spoon 1 tablespoonful of filling onto the center of the pot sticker wrap. Fold the wrap in half and gently press the left hand corner of the wrap to seal.  With your right thumb, gently push 1/4-inch of the wrap and fold over to the left to make the ruffles. Place filled pot stickers on prepared sheet pan and wrap the rest of the pot stickers.

**At this point, you can freeze the pot stickers for later enjoyment. Simply place the sheet pan in the freezer for 1 to 2 hours, or until pot stickers are frozen/harden. Then, transfer to a zip lock bag and keep in the freezer.**

Or, in a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil on medium high heat. Place filled pot stickers on skillet, flat side down. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown. Pour water into the pan until half way up the sides of the pot stickers and cover with a lid. Let the pot stickers steam for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove lid and cook uncover for another 3 minutes, or until all water has evaporated and the skin of the pot stickers turn crispy on one side.

Ingredients for the Dipping Sauce:

1 teaspoon Asian Chili Sauce (I used Sambal Oelek)
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon water

To make the dipping sauce:
Add all ingredients in a small bowl, stir until sugar dissolved and well combined.


Note: Since I serve these Pot Stickers to young kids, I didn’t add the chili sauce into the dipping sauce but serve it on the side.  You can do the same if you’re serving these to kids or elderly.

**To cook the frozen pot stickers, DO NOT defrost!  Simply cook them with the same method but add 2 minutes in the cook time during the steaming step.



39 comments:

  1. These are wonderful Amy! My mouth is watering!
    Beautiful!

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    1. Thank you, my Dear. Wish I can share some with you. :) Happy Friday.

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    1. Thank you. I'm glad you like them. Have a Happy Friday and a great weekend.

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  3. I love your video!!!!! You move so elegantly... My kitchen is VERY chaos because I move frantically... hahaha. I love pot stickers and I think my kids like them even more! Great tutorial Amy!

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    1. Thank you for your kind words, Nami. I couldn't help but laugh a little when you associate me with the word "elegant"! :P I always considered myself as a clumsy person (I think my hubby would agree too!) I spill, drop things and bump myself into furniture all the time....hahaha...that sound pretty bad but so true. I'm glad you like the video. :) Have a happy Friday and a beautiful weekend.

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  4. My favorite excuse to make pot stickers is that I can eat 20 of them without awkwardly asking a waiter for five orders.

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    1. I couldn't agree more! LOL....we should have a pot stickers eating contest. :P

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  5. I love pot stickers too! Especially with adding chives into it but definitely love to try your recipe :)

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    1. Oh yeah, I love the chives in pot stickers too. :) I make this more classic recipe this time because my kids think the chives are too strong for them. I'm sure their taste would change when they grow up. I didn't like chives when I was a kid. :P

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  6. These look delicious! I love pot stickers so much...I'll have to give these a try. Your tutorial makes it look possible for me to do it! Enjoy your weekend!

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    1. I'm glad you like this recipe and tutorial. These are really easy and fun to make. Let me know how they turn out. :)

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  7. We all love potstickers here...but I have never tried making them myself. I've always thought of it as time consuming so I just buy Ling Ling Potstickers from Costco. But after watching your video, I'm now inspired to try it! Thanks Amy!

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    1. You're very welcome, Tina. These are quite easy to make actually. And I always make more and freeze a batch so I have some "ready to cook" in the freezer whenever I crave them. ;)

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  8. I love the video, it looks so easy!!! :)

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    1. Thanks. :) I'm glad you like the video. Yes, they are so much fun to make and very easy, in deed.

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  9. Hi Amy,
    I just know that one of those tray's of Chicken Pot Stickers is just for me. Of course it looks amazing! Hope you are having a great week end and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
    Come Back Soon!
    Miz Helen

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    1. Oh yes, I know you'll enjoy these pot stickers a lot. Thank you again for hosting Full Plate Thursday. Always fun to join in for the party. Have a wonderful Sunday!

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  10. Thank you so much. This was very helpful..

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    1. You're very welcome. I'm glad you found this helpful. Have a wonderful day.

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  11. Those look so fantastic. I will be right over!

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    1. Thanks, Carolina. I'm sure you'll love these pot stickers. :)

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  12. I've only made pot stickers once and we loved them! This is a great reminder to make them again. Loved your video too.

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    1. Thank you for stopping by. :) Yes, these are so good that I used to order them whenever I'm out for Chinese food. Now, I can enjoy them any time at home.

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  13. YUM! I love pot stickers, but I've never made them before. Great tutorial!

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    1. Wonderful, I'm glad to hear you like the tutorial. Have fun wrapping and eating. ;)

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  14. Thank you for visiting and hope you'll be back soon. I'm going over to your site to check things out. :)

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  15. I would love these for dinner, right now! YUM! Great job on the video!

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    1. Thank you, Sue. When you mention dinner...I'm craving for some of these too. Gotta go get more ingredients this weekend. Have a good one.

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  16. Pot Stickers are one of my favorites! I get them all the time. I can't wait to try these, thanks for the video too, what a big help :)

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    1. Glad to hear you found the video helpful. Can't wait to hear from you how they turn out. :) Have a lovely weekend.

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  17. Very classy video and clearly informative. I will make these soon. The combination of the ground meat and cabbage is tasty.

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    1. Thank you so much. I'm glad you find the video helpful. :) Hope you'll love this recipe. Happy Friday.

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  18. Nice tutorial of chicken pot stickers. I never made it before but it’s looking tasty so I will try to make it myself with the help of your tutorial. Thanks for this great tutorial.

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  19. Thanks for such a clear set of instructions Amy. Your post was so inspiring I made these tonight. They're nowhere as pretty as yours and I couldn't fold them the way you did, but I wouldn't have dared try if it weren't for your video!

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  20. Thank you so much for stopping by and let me know you've tried the recipe, much appreciated. :) Although your pot stickers might not look the same as mine, I'm sure they still taste great. Practice makes perfect, so make them again and I'm sure you'll make them more gorgeous than mine in no time! :) Have a wonderful day, Pauline.

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  21. Made these last weekend after watching the video. Soooo easy and soooo much better than the take out ones. Was amazed that they looked almost as good as yours. We LOVE pot stickers and have already finished off our first batch. Added minced shrimp and water chestnuts for some crunch. Thank so much for a delicious recipe and the video tutorial!

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  22. Hi Amy, just watched your video and you made it all so simple! I have tried making and they weren't as pretty as yours! Got to try this again! Happy Easter!

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    1. Thank you for trying the recipe, Jeannie. I'm sure your pot stickers came out just as delicious. :) Hope you'll try time again as practice makes perfect. Wish you and your family a wonderful Easter weekend as well. :)

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