Family members gathered around, chatting, laughing, but hard at work —  rolling, wrapping, and pleating towards a common goal: a steamy, mouth-watering pile of juicy dumplings.

Shaped like lucky moneybags, these potstickers are simple to make as no special techniques are required. Rope in your friends and family to help roll out and wraps these dumplings, and perhaps start a new family tradition that's both fun and delicious this lunar new year.     

Delving into the deets

Filling variations

• Our potsticker variant entails a classic combination of minced pork and prawn. You can switch these proteins for minced beef, lamb, or chicken, just make sure there is enough fat content (~ 20%) in the minced meat for juicy dumplings. 
• In place of the spinach, you can use a variety of vegetables like: cabbage, napa cabbage, pak choi, or phuay leng. The important thing is to make sure the veggies are finely chopped and dry before mixing them in.
• Other ingredients you can add to the filling include: diced shiitake mushrooms, chopped chives, diced water chestnut, or bamboo shoots.  

Stuffing suggestion

Don’t overfill your dumplings. When you first begin wrapping the potstickers, start with less stuffing then proceed to fill more generously as you build confidence in the process. 

Flour frequently

When rolling out the dough, sprinkle the worksurface and your wooden dowel with flour if you feel the dough sticking to any surfaces. If you are stacking up your dumpling wrappers, make sure to liberally dust them with flour before piling them up to prevent sticking. 

Partner up for potstickers

The ideal workflow is to have one person rolling out the wrappers, while at least one other stuffs dumplings simultaneously. This way you can avoid having the wrappers dry out or sticking to one another, which makes dumpling making an ideal family project.   

Recipe (makes 32 large potstickers)

Steps

Filling

1. In a mixing bowl mix all the filling ingredients together, break the egg in and stir with a large spoon or spatula.
2. Cover and leave it in the fridge to marinate for at least 2 hours.

Dough

1. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour and warm water, then season with salt and mix with a spoon. When a shaggy dough has formed, proceed to knead the dough with your hands (5 - 10 minutes) until the dough is cohesive and elastic.
2. Wrap the dough in cling film and let it rest for 30 minutes. This will soften the dough. 
3. Briefly knead the dough again. At this juncture, check the dough’s consistency, it should be malleable but not too sticky. If the dough is too wet, add more flour to correct its texture.

Shape the wrappers

1. Shape the dough into a large ball and slice it with a knife into 4 equal portions. Wrap up 3 portions with the cling film and set them aside, leaving yourself one smaller piece that’s easier to work with.
2. Against your work surface, roll that portion out into a long inch-thick log, then slice the log into 8 equal pieces using your knife. 
3. Set one piece on a work surface dusted with flour so that the cylinder stands up vertically, then press it down with your palm into a flat disk.
4. With a wooden dowel in your dominant hand and the other gripping the dumpling, apply downward pressure on the dowel, and roll it, flattening half the dough piece, then pull it back and off the dough.
5. With your non-dominant hand, quarter-rotate the dough piece, then roll, pushing the dowel in, and tugging it back again. Dust the dough with more flour if it begins to stick to the table. 
6. Repeat this set of motions, rolling in, out, and rotating the dough as many times as is required till you achieve a round dumpling wrapper, as thin as a piece of cotton cloth.
7. Replicate this wrapper rolling process(steps 3 - 6) for the remaining cylinders of dough until you have finished rolling out the first eight wrappers. 
8. Continue rolling the next of the big portions of dough into a log, dividing it by eight, then rolling out all the wrappers. Do this until all the dough is used up, and you have 32 round and thin dumpling wrappers.

Fill the dumplings

1. Spoon a tablespoon of the filling onto the centre of a dumpling skin, then gather up the edges of the to the top, so you bundle up the filling. 
2. Tie the gathered up ends of the dumpling up with a strip of pandan leaf to seal it up into a neat package. Repeat until all the dumplings are made.  

Cooking

1. Prepare your BRUNO Hotplate with the flat plate and oil it generously.
2. Set the hotplate’s heat to “MED”, and let it warm up uncovered for 2 minutes. Pour 1/2 cup of water into the pan and cover it immediately to let the potstickers steam (~5 minutes).
3. Place the dumplings on it, making sure to space the dumplings apart so they are not touching.
4. Remove the lid and continue cooking for another 3 minutes until all the water has evaporated. 
5. At this point, constantly check the bottoms of the dumplings. When all of them are seared to golden brown perfection, turn off the heat and plate the freshly cooked potstickers. 

Serve them accompanied by a saucer of julienned ginger soaked in black vinegar. 

吃饺子,交好运 (eat dumplings, bring luck)! Enjoy~