Chinese Beef and Green Onion Pot Stickers

Over a year ago I cracked the code for making my own gyoza (Japanese pot stickers) at home. It's a bit time consuming, but really couldn't be easier. I love to get together with my Dad and make a huge batch and store them in my freezer (and his) for a super quick 15 minute supper pulled from the freezer. My Dad loved the recipe so much, he bought me a copy of Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More. There are so many great dumpling recipes to choose from, but the Chinese Beef Pot Stickers caught my eye. Lean ground beef is insanely cheap here, and I'm always looking for creative ways of making dinner with it. I went ahead and made them and invited some friends over for a Chinese themed dinner, and we all loved them.

How can you not love pot stickers?

Recipe adapted from Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More
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Makes about 48 dumplings
Serves about 6 as a main course and 8-10 as a snack/appetizer

1 lb lean ground beef

2/3 cup green onions, finely chopped

1 1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/3 cup chicken stock or water

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry

1 1/2 tbsp canola oil

1 1/2 tbsp sesame oil

1 package of gyoza skins (also called Shanghai dumpling wrappers)
1/4 cup water
1 tsp cornstarch

Filling the Pot Stickers:
Before you start making the pot stickers, prepare your workspace. Get out a large baking sheet and moisten a clean kitchen towel or paper towel until just damp. In a small bowl mix together the water and cornstarch.

In a large mixing bowl mix together the ground beef, green onions, ginger, salt, pepper, chicken stock, soy sauce, rice wine, canola oil and sesame oil. You can let this sit covered in the fridge for 30 minutes (or up to 24 hours) to develop the flavors.

To begin filling your pot stickers, hold a dumpling wrapper in one hand. Dip your finger in the cornstarch water and moisten all around the outside edge of the wrapper.

Place a heaped teaspoon of filling in the middle of the wrapper.

These photos are from when I made Japanese pot stickers. It will show you the method, but obviously there will be no cabbage in your filling.

Fold the gyoza wrapper in half and pinch in the middle.

To make a pleat, you'll need to make a small fold to the left of the middle.

Pinch that together.

Make another fold to the left of the pleat you just made and pinch together.

It will look like this.

Make the same pleats pinching them together on the other side until the dumpling is completely sealed.

Your cute little pot sticker is now folded and ready to stand up....

In the palm of your hand or on a hard surface, stand the gyoza up and tap to make a flat bottom.

I've looked at pictures in dumpling cookbooks and they have many more pleats than I do but this works for me, takes less time and this is what ours look like at our local Japanese restaurant. You can get fancy and add more pleats if you like.

When you are all done folding and making the potstickers, you could at this point place your whole baking sheet in the freezer. The pot stickers will freeze in about an hour or two and can then be placed in a ziplock bag. This prevents them from freezing into a big potsticker ball. When you are ready to use them, just pull them out of the freezer and add an extra minute or two for cooking time.

Cooking the Pot Stickers:
Whether cooking these fresh or frozen, get out a large non-stick skillet that has a tight fitting lid. Place a couple teaspoons of oil in the pan and turn the heat up to high. Get a 1/2 cup of water ready and place on the counter beside you. Place the pot stickers in the pan on the flat side with their pleats sticking up. Depending on the size of your pan you should be able to fit about 12 or so into the pan (if I'm serving this as a meal for 4, I have two frying pans going at once). After about a minute or two the bottoms of the pot stickers will be browned and crispy. Grab the lid to the frying pan in one hand and the 1/2 cup of water in the other. Quickly pour the water into the pan and put the lid on. Turn the heat down to low and set a timer for 10 minutes. The dumplings will finish cooking in the pan by steaming.

After 10 minutes remove the lid of the pan. If not all the water is gone let them sit another minute or two to let the water evaporate and let the bottoms of the pot stickers get crispy again. Remove to a serving dish.

Serve the pot stickers with your choice of dipping sauce:

#1 Soy Sesame Dipping Sauce

2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

Mix ingredients together in small bowl and serve with gyoza.

#2 Tangy Chili Dipping Sauce

3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp chili oil (Layu chili oil)
Dash of chili pepper (Ichimi togarashi)

Mix ingredients together in small bowl and serve with gyoza.

Sauce #1 is made with easily accessibly ingredients that most people already have in their pantry. Sauce #2 is the same as the one served in our Japanese restaurant and I found the chili oil and chili pepper at our little Asian market. Both are great dipping sauces. I serve both to give my guests choice. My personal favorite is the two sauces mixed together.

Click here for printable version of Chinese Beef and Green Onion Pot Stickers
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THE RESULTS?
I really wasn't sure how I would like beef pot stickers because I love the sweet and juicy pork filled Japanese ones. Definitely a great variation! The addition of all the green onions is fabulous with the beef. As with any pot sticker, the crispy bottoms combined with the succulent steamed filling is fantastic.

Meal Ideas: