Pork and Mango Potstickers
Posted on 08. Jan, 2010 by admin in Appetizers/Dim Sum, Asian Region, Chinese, Dumplings, East Asian
In college, my girlfriends and I would get together and have potsticker, or dumpling, parties. We’d set the filling ingredients in the middle of the table and we’d sit and fold dumplings. Hun- dreds of ’em! We would devour a big batch that evening and then divvy up and freeze the rest for a rainy or lazy day.
You’ll want to buy the round dumpling wrappers, also called “potsticker” or “gyoza” wrappers. Square wonton wrappers are too thin to use for fried potstickers (though the same filling in- gredients in this recipe make fabulous wontons (see page 61 on how to fold wontons).
Once you have the right type of wrapper, and all the ingre- dients at hand, making homemade dumplings take just four steps—chop, combine, wrap and cook!
How to fold potstickers:
click on image for larger photo of step by step
To get a traditional crescent shaped pot- sticker, you’ll fold, pleat and pinch only on one side of the wrapper. The reason the potstickers are folded this way is because the shape makes a flat bottom. The bot- toms crisp up in the frying pan.
1. Spoon 1 heaping teaspoon of the fill- ing onto a dumpling wrapper. Don’t be tempted to overfill! Dip your finger into the cornstarch paste and “paint” all around the edges of the dumpling skin.
2. In the middle, pinch the top and bottom together, tightly.
3. Starting just left of the middle, use your left hand to bring the TOP portion of wrap-
per to pleat TOWARDS the middle. Pinch to secure that pleat. Move down just a bit, and do the pleating again. Repeat once more. You will have 3 pleats on each side, all pleats pointing towards the middle.
4. Now, it’s time to do the right side. Do the same using only the top portion of wrapper. Pleat TOWARDS the middle, or to the left. Repeat 2 more times.
5. Finish by pinching the pleat all around one more time with your thumb and lower portion of your finger. Remember, any un- sealed section will cause the potsticker to leak filling!
6 Ta-da!
THE SHORT-CUT METHOD
If the pleating sounds too difficult, you can just pinch the dumpling tight all around. This method won’t produce a natural flat bottom, and won’t be as stable as the cres- cent-shaped pleating method, but it is eas- ier. You can also fry the dumplings on their sides for even greater crispy-crunch! After following step 1, you’ll want to just pinch the rest of the dumpling closed. Use your thumb and the lower part of your index finger to squeeze tightly. Set the dumpling on the cutting board so that it stands on the surface and try to shape into a flat bot- tom. Make sure the dumpling is sealed.
Pork and Mango Potstickers Recipe
recipe from 
The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook
SERVES 6 AS AN APPETIZER, SNACK OR PART OF A MULTICOURSE MEAL
1/4 head of medium cabbage
2 teaspoons salt
2 green onions (scallions)
1/2 lb (250 g) ground pork (or ground turkey)
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons rice wine (or dry sherry)
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 mango, chopped
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Cornstarch paste: 2 tablespoons cornstarch plus 1/2 cup (125 ml) water
1 package of round dumpling wrappers, defrosted and covered with a damp towel
High-heat cooking oil
1/2 cup (125 ml) Chinese Dipping Sauce
1. To prepare the vegetables, finely shred the cabbage in your food processor. Place in a bowl and add the salt. Mix and let sit for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, squeeze the water out of the cabbage. (You can just use your hands—take a fistful of cab- bage and squeeze over the sink or put cabbage in cheesecloth and squeeze). Use a food processor to shred the green onions. You do not have to salt and squeeze the green onions, as they don’t have much water content.
2. To make the filling, combine the ground pork, cabbage and green onions in a big bowl. Add the soy sauce, wine, rice vin- egar, sesame oil, and stir to combine. Add the chopped man- goes. Stir in the 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to help the mixture hold together.
3. To wrap the potstickers, combine the ingredients for the cornstarch paste in a small bowl, stirring until the cornstarch is dissolved. You will use the paste to seal the dumplings. Take 1 dumpling wrapper, and spoon 1 heaping teaspoon of the filling mixture in the middle. Dip your finger in the cornstarch paste and go around the edges of the dumpling wrapper. Fold the bottom part of wrapper up to meet the top. Crimp the edge and pinch tightly to seal. Shape dumplings further by placing them on a table or counter so they lay flat on the bot- tom. Crimped edges should be sticking up and on top. Keep wrapped dumplings covered with a slightly damp towel or plastic wrap.
4. To cook the potstickers, pour about 2 tablespoons of oil into a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. When hot but not smoking, carefully place the dumplings in frying pan, flat side down, not touching each other. Do not crowd too much or they will not brown. Fry the dumplings in batches for 2 to 3 minutes, until the bottoms are nicely browned. Add 1/4 cup (65 ml) of water and immediately cover to start the steaming process. Steam for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the lid and let the rest of the water boil off and re-crisp the bottoms, about 1 minute. Cut open one of the dumplings and make sure the inside meat is cooked. Before starting your next batch, wipe the frying pan clean before adding more cooking oil. Adjust amount of water and steam time for the next batch as needed.
5. Serve with the Chinese Dipping Sauce on the side.
2 Responses to “Pork and Mango Potstickers”
Have a comment or question?
Related Articles
Connect with us!
How much mango is needed? It’s not in the list of ingredients.
grace Reply:
July 7th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
1/2 mango, chopped is needed. It’s listed!