How to Steam Potstickers

Steamed potstickers can be an appetizer or main dish.

Potstickers are an Asian food that can be made from vegetables, seafood and meats alone or in combination. The contents are enclosed within a simple dough wrapper. Other names for potstickers are dumplings, dim-sum and gyoza. There are many ways to cook these, and different people will adapt their own methods by using sauces to boil, fry, microwave, bake or steam them. The imported frozen product is readily available at Trader Joe's and other grocery stores, and they are quite easy to steam.

Things You'll Need

• Cooking pot with lid
• Cooking steamer
• Frying pan (optional)

Instructions

1. Place your steamer inside the pot. If it's a folding type, extend the section panels to touch the sides of the pot. Fill the pot with water to just under the level of the steamer -- don't let water come through the holes or the potstickers can get too soggy.

2. Remove frozen potstickers from the bag, laying them in a single layer to cover the steamer sections.

3. Bring the water to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and cover the pot with the appropriate lid. Cook the potstickers until they are soft enough to your liking -- time in minutes can vary -- approximately 15 to 20 minutes -- but the wrapper will turn shiny and soften. Remove one from the pot, replace the lid and cut the potsticker in half to taste test for doneness.

4. Remove the fully steamed potstickers from the heat and either pan fry them to brown in a thin layer of sesame oil or serve them immediately with your favorite Asian dipping sauce.

Tips & Warnings

• Some people prefer homemade potstickers, so if you make your own from scratch, the cooking time will likely be less than for cooking the frozen ones. Check your recipe to be sure.

• Another method is to place the potstickers into a frying pan and add an inch of water or cooking sauce, cover them and cook them until done. Flip them once during the cooking to avoid lopsided browning.

• Overcooking can lead to mushy dumplings, so check them before the expected done time.

References

• Hammertown: Boiling-Water Dough (for pot-stickers & other dumplings) by Auntie Mon, Mar 15, 2011
• Asian Dumpling Tips: Trader Joe's Frozen Dumplings Fly Fearlessly through Asia
• Dumpling Man: Frozen Dumplings
• Herbivoracious: Vegetarian Potstickers (Gyoza) - Recipe, by Michael Natkin
• Allrecipes.com: Pot Stickers Traditional, by Sailin