Potstickers - Not a quick meal, but OK for Sunday night dinner

Sunday night is pretty relaxing for me, not much going on. So, I decided to spend little more time than usual and make potstickers. I know you can get frozen ones from a Chinese market, but I like to make my own so I put different things in them. Today I just made basic potstickers.

Potsticker wraps (1 package) - You should be able to find them at major grocery stores. If not, try any Asian market.
Ground pork (1/2 pound) - You could also use ground chicken or turkey.
Cabbage (1/2 of a small one)
Leek (3 inches of white part)
Ginger (small piece)
Soy sauce (2 teaspoons)
Salt, pepper
Sesame oil (2 teaspoons) - optional. It gives nice flavor.

1. Chop up cabbage and leek finely - It's really easy if you use a food processor.
2. Sprinkle a good amount of salt onto cabbage and leek. This allows water to come out of the vegetables - You don't want soggy potstickers. After leaving for 5-10 min., squeeze the water/juice out of the vegetables and place them in a bowl.
3. Peel the ginger and grind it into the mixture of cabbage and leek (about 2 teaspoons).
4. Put ground pork into the mixture.
5. Put salt, pepper, soy sauce, and sesame oil into the mixture.
6. Mix the mixture well until everything is well-incorporated and feels little sticky.
7. Place a small spoonful of meat mixture on a wrap. Wet the edge of the wrap with water - this becomes the glue. Hold the wrap over and seal tightly.
8. Boil hot water.
9. Heat oil on a big pan (that has a lid), high heat. Line up potstickers on the pan. When the bottom is nice and brown, put 3/4 cup of hot water into the pan and close the lid, allowing the steam to cook the meat. When water is gone, take one potsticker out and put a tooth pick or chopstick into it. If juice runs clear, it's cooked. If not cooked, add some more water and keep cooking.
10. Dip them in soy sauce and enjoy! (You can also mix in vinegar, chili sauce, etc. into your dipping sauce)

It actually doesn't take that much time at all if you have a food processor to chop up the vegetables. Only part that is time consuming is the wrapping part.

I had my potstickers with seaweed soup and rice. Try salad with Asian dressing and rice. If you made too many, freeze them without grilling them and grill them frozen before you eat.

This is a recipe for basic potstickers, but you can also be creative and try different things. Try defrosted frozen spinach (make sure you squeeze out water/juice), chopped up kimchi (Korean spicy pickled cabbage), finely diced bamboo shoots, ground tofu, etc.

One key point about this recipe is using hot water to put in the pan, rather than cold water. If you use cold water, potstickers tend to stick to each other, and wraps break apart.

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