Pork and Chinese Cabbage Potstickers-Bot Mi boc Thit Heo bam va Bap Cai.

 

This recipe adapted from Today Food and China Dumpling wrappers.They are dumplings steam-fried in a pan. The bottoms are golden brown and crisp.  This recipe made about 60 pieces.  They are freeze well too.

Soy-Ginger Dipping Sauce:

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 Tbsp rice vinegar

1 Tbsp chopped cilantro

1 green onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed

1 tsp peeled, and finely grated/minced ginger, fresh or frozen

1 small red hot chili pepper or chili sauce, optional

Mix all ingredients together in a glass or non reactive container.  Covered and store in the fridge up to a week.  You can mash garlic and hot pepper first then add to other ingredients.  Rice vinegar can be replaced with lemon/lime juice and add a little sugar at times to suit your taste.

Dumpling:

For dumpling wrappers

• 420 gram all purpose flour,  unbleached or bleached about 3 cups unsifted; dip and sweep.
• 210-220 cc water, room temperature or warm water
• 1/2 tsp salt 

For filling

• 1 lb ground pork (not too clean)
• 2½ cups packed finely chopped Chinese cabbage (Napa cabbage)
• 2 green onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• Vegetable oil to fry.

1. 1.Place flour and salt in a mixing bowl.  Stir in 210 cc water with a spatula or chopsticks until a ball of dough starts to form.   Start to knead the dough to form ball.  Add more water if needed to make the dough tacky but not wet.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter about 15 minutes.  Then re-knead again until the dough really smooth.  Covered and let it rest 30 minutes to 1 hour.
2. Combine all ingredients of filling in a bowl except vegetable oil.  Mix well; set aside.
3. Divide the dough into halves. Roll each into a long robe about 3/4 inch in diameter. Then cut it into small pieces about 9-10 grams each.  Slightly flour the work surface. Flat each piece of dough into a round flat disc in your palm. Roll it out into 3 inch flat circle. 
4. Place a dollop about 2 tsp of filling into center of the circle.  Fold the dough over filling to form a half moon shape.  The dough should be soft and sticky enough to stick together without water or egg wash.  You might want to fold the edges into decorated edges or leave it plain.  Repeat until either the dough or filling gone. Arrange finished dumplings on a slightly floured rimmed baking sheet and cover them with plastic wrap or another inverted sheet to prevent drying out.  These are ready to go into the freezer now for later use.
5. Heating about 2 tsp oil in a 10 non stick pan over medium heat. Swirl the pan around to coat the bottom with oil.  Arrange dumplings into the pan as many as they do not touch together.  Add 1/2 cup water to the pan. Cover and cook until the bottom brown and crisp about 9-10 minutes.  If some liquid left after timing done and dumplings cooked, open the lid and cook until all liquid evaporated. If liquid gone too soon, add some more water and adjust heat level for next one.
6. Repeat with uncooked dumplings. 
7. Serve with dipping sauce.

*Note:

-Divided the dough first then counted them.  Then weight the filling and divided them into equal count as the dough. Will help even filling and dough out.

-Dumplings should be place individually on a plastic layer on a tray and freeze them before store them in a air tight container in freezer. No need to thaw dumplings before cooking but adjust cooking time a few minutes longer.

Dumpling wrappers in process.