Pot Stickers ~ Guotie

By Leite's Culinaria

Ingredients

1 cup Chinese black vinegar
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon minced cilantro leaves
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
12 ounces ground beef or ground pork ((preferably not lean))
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon minced ginger
3/4 cup minced scallions (light green and white parts)
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
Pinch salt
About 36 (3-inch) round dumpling wrappers ((store-bought or homemade))
1 1/2 to 3 tablespoons mild vegetable oil

Prep Time45mins
Cook Time30mins
Servings36

Instructions

Make the dipping sauce

Whisk together the black vinegar, ginger, sesame oil, cilantro, soy sauce, and sugar in a small bowl. Let stand at room temperature.

Make the dumplings

In a bowl, combine the meat, soy sauce, cornstarch, ginger, scallions, sugar, sesame oil, and salt and stir in one direction with a chopstick until just mixed. Editor's Note: We don't understand the rationale behind the one-chopstick thing, either. Nor did our recipe testers, even the ones who grew up making pot stickers at their mothers' sides. So try it or not. Up to you.

Fill a small bowl with some cold water. Hold a dumpling wrapper in the palm of your hand and place 1 heaping teaspoon filling in the center. Dip your finger in the water and run it around the edge of the wrapper (this helps make a good seal). Lightly fold the wrapper over on itself, but don't touch the edges together yet. Only seal the edges in the middle. Then, starting at one end, use your fingers to make a small pleat in the edge of the wrapper closest to you. Then press the pleat into the edge beneath it and pinch together to seal. Keep making pleats along the dumpling opening in this way until it's completely sealed. The pleating should produce a dumpling that stands up on a flat bottom, pleats sticking up. Repeat with the remaining filling and wrappers. (You can freeze the uncooked dumplings for up to a few months.)

Heat 1/2 to 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Place 12 dumplings, pleat side up, in a single layer in the skillet so they're just barely touching each other. Cover and cook for 1 minute.

Decrease the heat to medium-low, carefully pour 1/4 cup water into the skillet (watch out, it may spatter), and cook, covered, until all the water is absorbed by the dumplings and their bottoms are crusty brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Repeat this process twice more with the remaining dumplings, oil, and water.

Serve the dumplings on a platter or in a bamboo steamer and pass the dipping sauce on the side.