The addictive pot stickers

Thousand apologies to all of our loyal followers for my absence on this blog. I have owed way too many recipes due to the hectic school work of being a 2nd year grad student...OK, instead of babbling about my complaints on lab work stress, let me share with you one of many of our all time favorites - the AWESOME pot stickers.

I have won my boyfriend's (aka IT man who manages this website) family during Christmas with this dish and I am sure I can win yours too.

It has taken me several years to perfect this recipe and finally we came with the right combination ta-da-: a combination of pork and shrimp is the KEY!

Makes 40-50

The pot stickers:

• 1 packet of round dumpling skin (usually comes in 50-60 pieces)
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1/2 pound shrimp (deveined and shelled)
• a bunches napa cabbage, shredded
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
• a handfuls of cilantro, chopped
• 3 sprigs scallions, chopped
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
• 2 teaspoons white sugar
• 3 tablespoons good quality soy sauce
• 3 dashes ground white pepper
• 1 dash salt
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

1. Add ground pork in a large mixing bowl
2. with a food processor, chopped the shrimp into pieces (don't grind them too finely, leave some smaller chunks), then transfer chopped shrimp into bowl with the pork
3. Add all the ingredients into the same meat bowl and mix them with your clean hand, make sure you don't over mix them
4. Use a teaspoon, scoop the meat filling into the middle of the dumpling skin and fold them.
5. Once all the dumplings are wrapped, heat up skillet to a medium high with 2-3 tablespoon of vegetable oil. When searing the pot stickers, make sure not to over-crowd your skillet. It takes about 3 min to cook one side, then flip the other side to cook for another 3 min with medium low heat. (skin will turn golden brown and the filling will cooked thoroughly)

The savory dipping sauce:

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 2 tablespoons chinese rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 shallot, diced finely
• 3-4 pieces birdseye chilie (optional if you like spicy)

Whisk everything together in a bowl