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May 28, 2013How to Make Pot Stickers from Wonton SkinsThey say that if you’re given lemons make lemonade. Twice inthe past twelve months, I’ve been handed wonton skins to make pot stickers.Instead of pivoting to cook up wontons, I used the wonton skins to make potstickers. I had to because I’d promised pot stickers to a client and a class. Localmarkets didn’t have pot sticker (gyoza) wrappers or the person in charge ofshopping for me wasn’t clear on what was needed. After the initial 5 seconds of shock and panic, I took a breath and finessed the dumpling situation.
You may think, “What’s the big deal? A dumpling skin is adumpling skin.” That’s not really true. There are differences in thickness andingredients. Then there’s the filling itself. Pot sticker fillings are usuallysoft and very moist whereas wonton fillings are firmer, often times withcornstarch added for binding. Consequently, pot sticker wrappers are relativelythick whereas wontons skins are gossamer by comparison.
So what did I do in the face of a wet pot sticker fillingand thin wonton skins? I punted with the following strategies:
Cut the square wontonskins into circles. Use scissors or a 3-inch (7.5 cm) biscuit cutter. Keepthe wonton skins in short stacks to make the work go faster. At the class, thebiscuit cutter was only 2 3/4-inches (7 cm) wide, which made filling them a bitchallenging.
Fill with less, a lotless. A thin wonton skin can’t handle a lot of the moist pot stickerfilling, or the skin will get soggy. I told students to fill with about 1 to 11/2 teaspoons of filling, leaving a good 3/4-inch (2 cm) rim for closing up therim. (You can fill store bought pot stickers skins with 2 teaspoons of filling;homemade wrappers can take 1 tablespoon of filling.)
Make the most simpleshapes. There was no room for fanciful shapes. Everyone made half moons,pea-pods or simple pleated crescents. Pot stickers made from wonton skins aredelicate. Here's video of no-fuss pot sticker shapes that I made at Saveur magazine:
Dust the dumplingbutts with extra flour. We had 2 cups of filling so that’s between 64 and90 dumplings. To prevent the shaped dumplings from sticking while they satuncooked, I had people dip the dumpling bottoms in extra flour. Instead ofparchment paper, my sous chef in class put down a Silpat-style non-stick bakingsheet liner and sprinkled on flour too.
Pan-fry on lowerheat. I used medium heat to brown the dumpling bottoms instead ofmedium-high heat because the skins are more delicate. Plus, we had so many toput into the skillet and I needed the extra time. There was a giant nonstickskillet so we crammed it full of dumplings and formed a sunflower of tiny pot stickers.
Add water cautiously.For steaming the pot stickers in the skillet, I used less water than usual at the front end, figuring that thethinner skin would require less moisture to cook. You can always add water butyou can’t remove excess water all that easily!
Use a lid to unmold.I was going to flip the skillet to invert the pot stickers onto a platter butmy sous chef and students suggested that I reconsider. There were many eyebrowsraised as they wondered how successful I’d be handling the skillet. In the end,we decided to invert the dumplings onto a giant lid and slide them on theplatter. It totally worked for a 16-inch (40-cm) wide sunflower of dumplings.
Explain to yourguests? That’s up to you. In class and at my client’s location, everyoneknew. We all marveled at the versatility of the dumplings as we ate everysingle one up.
Related posts:
Wontonskin buying guideWokStickers: Original Pot Sticker ExperimentPotSticker Duck Tacos (a nontraditional way to use a pot sticker wrapper)Posted in Asian Dumplings, Cooking Tips & Tools | Permalink | |
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Comments How to Make Pot Stickers from Wonton SkinsThey say that if you’re given lemons make lemonade. Twice inthe past twelve months, I’ve been handed wonton skins to make pot stickers.Instead of pivoting to cook up wontons, I used the wonton skins to make potstickers. I had to because I’d promised pot stickers to a client and a class. Localmarkets didn’t have pot sticker (gyoza) wrappers or the person in charge ofshopping for me wasn’t clear on what was needed. After the initial 5 seconds of shock and panic, I took a breath and finessed the dumpling situation.
You may think, “What’s the big deal? A dumpling skin is adumpling skin.” That’s not really true. There are differences in thickness andingredients. Then there’s the filling itself. Pot sticker fillings are usuallysoft and very moist whereas wonton fillings are firmer, often times withcornstarch added for binding. Consequently, pot sticker wrappers are relativelythick whereas wontons skins are gossamer by comparison.
So what did I do in the face of a wet pot sticker fillingand thin wonton skins? I punted with the following strategies:
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