POTSTICKERS(A)           USENET Cookbook           POTSTICKERS(A)

POTSTICKERS

     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
     2 cups    all-purpose flour
     1/2 cup   water
          FILLING
     1/2 lb    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
     1 tsp     salt
     1/2 tsp   sugar
     pinch     white pepper
     1 tsp     sesame oil
          TO COOK
     5 Tbsp    vegetable oil
     1 cup     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 1
               inch in diameter.  Cut off the ends, then cut into
               about 24 pieces, each about 3/4-inch wide.  With
               the cut side up, press the dough down with your
               palm to flatten.  Use a rolling pin to make pan-
               cakes about 2 1/2-3 inches in diameter.  (They get
               quite thin; that's what you want.)

          (4)  Spoon 1 tablespoon of filling into the center of
               each pancake.  Fold the dough over to make a half
               circle and pleat the edges firmly together.

          (5)  To pan-fry, heat cast-iron or other heavy-bottom
               skillet over moderate heat.  Add 3 Tbsp 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
               2 Tbsp 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
     Path: decwrl!recipes
     From: liz@unirot (Mamaliz)
     Newsgroups: mod.recipes
     Subject: RECIPE: Orange pound cake
     Message-ID: 
     Date: 18 Jul 86 03:42:03 GMT
     Sender: recipes@decwrl.DEC.COM
     Organization: The Soup Kitchen, Edison NJ
     Lines: 70
     Approved: reid@decwrl.UUCP

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