I never thought about making potstickers until the day I saw my Chinese friends making dumplings for a hot pot dinner I was invited to. I had a chance to help them wrap the wantons, and while it was a lot of fun, mine came out considerably uglier than the rest. And as you can probably see from the pictures below, my wrapping skill has not much improved since then. But, delicious is delicious despite a wayward appearance.

I was also inspired to make potstickers after watching Crazy Rich Asians, particularly because of that scene where the main character goes to join in her boyfriend's family making them. This would be a great recipe to involve the whole family, especially with kids who tend to love hands on activities such as stuffing and wrapping the dumplings. Not to mention, it gets done much quicker with helping hands.

SUBSTITUTIONS  In this recipe, I make everything from scratch, including the dumpling wrappers. It does take a bit more time, but if you have kids helping, it will be a great learning experience for them to knead and roll the dough. If you don't want to spend time making the wrappers though, feel free to buy pre-made wrappers from your local Asian supermarket.

For protein in this dish, I've used ground chicken, but you can also use ground pork instead. Also, if you're allergic to shellfish, feel free to substitute shrimp for all ground meat in your potstickers.

BEST HOMEMADE POTSTICKERS

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, and warm water.
2. Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth.
3. Divide dough into 3 equal parts. For each part, divide again into 8 smaller parts, totalling 22 pieces of dough.
4. Lightly flour dough piece and roll into thin circles, keeping the dumpling wrappers separated with parchment paper.
5. In a large bowl, combine cabbage, green onion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, Lan Prik Chili Sauce, pepper, ground meat, and shrimp.
6. To make the potstickers, add about one tablespoon of filling to center of wrapper.
7. Coat half of the outer edge of the wrapper with water.
8. Fold the wrapper together over the filling and pleat edges to seal.
9. In a large skillet or frying pan, heat oil over medium high heat.
10. Add potstickers, making sure to leave some space between them. Once the bottoms start to brown, add 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of water and cover to steam the potstickers for 8 - 9 minutes. (IMPORTANT: try not to move around or disturb the dumplings while they are cooking. They are prone to tearing until the wrappers are completely cooked.)
11. Remove potstickers from the pan and enjoy!