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The Dumpling 100 · make it at home

Guotie (crisp-bottomed potstickers)

1 hr · About 30, 4 people

Pan-fried, then steamed, then fried again in the same pan: soft tops, crackling golden bottoms and an optional lacy starch skirt that joins them into one crisp sheet.

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The real one

You need

• For the filling: 300 g (2/3 lb) ground pork, 25% fat
• 200 g (2 cups) napa cabbage, finely chopped
• 1 tsp salt (for the cabbage)
• 2 scallions, minced
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp Shaoxing wine
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 30 round dumpling (gyoza/jiaozi) wrappers
• To fry: 2 tbsp neutral oil, plus 1 tsp for the skirt
• For the skirt (optional): 1 tbsp flour or cornstarch whisked into 150 ml (2/3 cup) water
• To serve: soy sauce, black vinegar and chili oil

How to make it

1. Salt the cabbage (15 min): Toss the cabbage with the salt and leave 15 minutes, then squeeze out as much water as you can in a towel.
2. Make the filling (5 min): Stir the pork with the cabbage, scallions, ginger, soy, wine, sugar, pepper and sesame oil in one direction until sticky.
3. Wrap (20 min): Put a tablespoon of filling in each wrapper, wet the edge, fold in half and pleat the front edge into a crescent, or simply pinch shut. Set flat side down.
4. Fry (3 min): Heat 2 tbsp oil in a 25 to 30 cm nonstick skillet with a lid over medium-high. Arrange the dumplings flat side down in a tight spiral. Fry 2 to 3 minutes until the bottoms are lightly golden.
5. Steam (7 min): Pour in the skirt mixture (or 150 ml plain water), cover at once and cook over medium for 6 to 7 minutes until the water is nearly gone.
6. Crisp (3 min): Uncover, drizzle the extra teaspoon of oil around the edge and keep frying until the bottoms and the skirt turn deep golden and crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Loosen with a spatula.
7. Flip and serve: Put a plate over the pan and turn it over so the crisp side is up. Serve with soy, vinegar and chili oil.

Tips

• Squeezing the cabbage is the difference between juicy and soggy.
• A nonstick pan makes the skirt release in one sheet.

Chef Amazing's own home version of potstickers, in our words; not any restaurant's recipe.