One of my go-to-meals: Pork Gyoza (Pot stickers in laymen terms)
Once upon a time I had grand visions in my head of starting a food blog. Such grand visions the darn thing never got off of the ground but I do have a bunch of photos from that time period burning a hole in my hard drive. So, I'm just going to post some of them here for you all, although I'm pretty sure that most people hate recipe posts. The band marches on.
Here at my household, we love some Asian-inspired food. I say Asian-inspired because I seriously doubt that most of my Asian dishes are made anywhere east of the United States. Chopsticks? We use forks. We like pot stickers, egg rolls, Thai lettuce wraps, etc. etc.. Pork Gyoza aka. pot stickers (you can also sub in chicken or beef or whatever suits your fancy or what is in your fridge) is one of those meals that I almost always have the components on hand for and is pretty easy to throw together to feed the crew with.
Just a note, don't assemble and then freeze them all together in a Ziploc. You get a huge ball of pot sticker mush. It is still delicious but you can hardly call them pot stickers at that point. I freeze the meat separate from the wrappers OR if you are ambitious, you can freeze them on a cookie sheet and then put them in a bag. That method is for overachievers only though.
Pork Gyoza
1/2 pound ground pork
3-4 green onions, chopped
chopped garlic
chopped ginger
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp. sesame oil
1 pkg. round wonton wrappers (I find them in the produce aisle at most major grocery stores)
vegetable oil
chicken broth
In a bowl, combine the pork, onions, garlic, ginger, cornstarch, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and sesame oil. In this version, it appears I added chopped green bell pepper.
To assemble these little pockets of deliciousness, set up a pot sticker "station. Basically, have your meat and a spoon ready. Open the package of wrappers. Have a small bowl of water at the ready. Have a cookie sheet and a moist paper towel close by.
Now, there are two options here. One, you can go all Chinese restaurant style and pleat your pot stickers or you can go lazy-Shannon style and just fold. Either way, you will need to wet the perimeter of the wrapper on one half so that you can achieve a proper seal. Put a small dollop of your meat mixture in the middle, and fold the halves together, pinching as you go.
I put them on the cookie sheet and cover with the paper towel so they don't dry out as I go.
To cook, heat a heavy pan over medium with a bit of oil in the bottom. Brown both sides of the pot stickers and then pour a quarter cup or so of chicken broth in the pan, reduce to low, and cover. Cook for approximately 4 minutes. Repeat in batches as required.
I serve with Costco-purchased egg rolls, white rice, soy sauce, and homemade sweet and sour sauce, and Sriracha if you like spicy.
