Potstickers / Vegetable Dumplings

I love potstickers and find these just as satisfying (sometimes even more so) than the deep fried spring rolls. These have a crunchy coating from the pan frying and the steaming method makes them a bit chewy as well. I usually use wonton wrappers that one can find in the freezers at the supermarket and they really make life easy because one just makes the filling and encloses them in the wrappers. These can then be frozen for later or pan-fried immediately or even steamed.

The wonton wrappers that I had on hand weren't wrapped properly after the first time I took them out so turned rather brittle. I then resorted to making the outer covering myself similar to what is used for momos, just a dough of all purpose flour, salt and some water. These were time consuming but they still tasted good and were a lot chewier than the wonton wrappers. One could also just steam these and they are just as tasty.

POTSTICKERS / VEGETABLE DUMPLINGS


Ingredients:
For the dough: (or use store-bought wonton wrappers)
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Salt - to taste
Water - as required to make a stiff dough
Oil - 2 to 3 tsp to cook the dumplings

For the Filling:
Carrots - 2, cut into thin slivers
Cabbage - 1 cup, sliced thinly or chopped
Ginger - 1/2 inch, grated
Garlic - 1 to 2 cloves, chopped
Spring Onions - 3 to 4, chopped (I didn't have any this time)
Soy Sauce - 1 to 2 tsp
Sriracha chilli sauce - to taste
Salt & Pepper to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
(You could add other veggies as per your preference like mushrooms, beans etc.)

Method:
1) For homemade dough, mix the flour, salt and water to make a stiff dough.

2) For the filling, heat the 2 tsp of oil and add the whites of spring onions, ginger and garlic, after abt 20-30 seconds, add in the veggies and a pinch of salt and stir-fry till crisp-tender. Stir in the soy & chilli sauces with pepper to taste & spring onion tops (greens) and when done. Keep aside and allow to cool a bit.

3) Pinch small portions of the dough and roll out into circles of 3 to 4 inch diameters. Place the filling in the middle and close over to make a semi-circle. Pinch the edges together. If using the wonton wrappers, follow a similar procedure and fold over to form triangles, a bit of water along the edges will help seal the wrappers. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling.


4) Heat a wide, shallow pan and spread a layer of oil... Place the potstickers/dumplings flat in a single layer (possibly in batches). Allow to cook for a few minutes until the bottoms of the pot stickers brown a bit and get crispy. Add about 1/4 cup of water to the hot pan, cover and allow the dumplings to get steam cooked.

5) Serve with dipping sauce of choice or even plain.