Chicken Potstickers

My friend's mom is an excellent cook (see her recipe for butternut squash soup), and one of my favorite things she makes is her dumplings. I vividly remember the first time I ever tried one as a child, and I still get excited to eat them at our families' parties. This weekend, I traveled home to do a mother-daughter cooking day and learned how to make these amazing potstickers. They freeze really well, so we all made a bunch to store in the freezer for future uses. Stuffing and folding each dumpling is a labor of love, but the end result is so worth the effort!

Chicken & Vegetable Potstickers:

• Pulse 1 bunch of scallions, 3 stalks of celery, and 3/4 head of green cabbage in a food processor until very finely minced.
• In a large bowl, combine vegetables with 2 lb. ground chicken (white and dark meat), 1 bunch of minced cilantro, 2 cloves grated garlic, and 1 large knob of grated ginger.
• Mix in 3 tbsp. soy sauce and 2 tsp. salt until very well combined.*
• To form dumpling, place 1 tsp. of the chicken mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper.**
• Dab your finger with water and tracer the entire rim of the wrapper.
• Fold the wrapper in half like a taco and pinch together, then fold the outer edges up and crease the front half of both corners, leaving the back halves open.
• Finally pinch the back halves together, forming a pleat in the back of each dumpling.***
• To cook****, place a small amount of oil in a non-stick skillet, coating the bottom of each dumpling with oil.
• Cook until brown on the bottom, then add in 1 c. water and cover the pan with a lid.
• Cook until all water is evaporated, about 8-10 minutes, then add a little more oil to get the bottom crispy.
• Remove from the pan and serve with a dipping sauce of 1 tbsp. rice vinegar, 1/2 tbsp. soy sauce, 1/4 chili paste or Sriracha hot sauce, and a few drops of sesame oil.

Makes 150 dumplings
*Don't add more soy sauce or the filling will have too much liquid.
**Or gyoza wrapper, preferably Hong Kong brand.
***See photos for a step-by-step tutorial on folding the dumplings.
****To freeze, place dumplings in one layer on a floured baking sheet. Freeze on the sheet, then transfer to a large, resealable plastic bag.

Step 1: Place filling in wrapper and wet the outside rim with water.

Step 2: Fold dumpling in half like a taco and pinch the top seams together.

Step 3: Fold the side's front corners together, in the opposite direction of the first fold.

Step 4: Gather the back corners in a pleat.

Step 5: Perfectly shaped dumpling.