Dad made the dough, Mom made the filling, and then we kids were called to help pack. When it came to potstickers, it was always a family affair in our house.
The production line made us feel like we deserved the giant pile of crispy bottom dumplings at the end. And that’s the beauty of homemade potstickers: you can make A LOT of them for just a fraction of the price you’d pay eating out.
However, the reality is that potstickers made from scratch take time. When we don’t have a lot of them, we turn to shortcuts or “cheats” that are just as satisfying as the real thing.
So if you love potstickers as much as we do, our recipe for the Ultimate Cheat’s Potstickers is for you. It is designed with not one, not two, but three keyboard shortcuts.
Store-bought wraps are a wise start. It means you don’t have to mix, knead and rest the dough, and there’s certainly no rolling out individual wrappers. Just stock up on a few frozen packets of round dumpling wrappers and thaw them if necessary.
When it comes to the filling, we’ve streamlined it by replacing the usual soy sauce, salt and sugar with one magical ingredient: oyster sauce. It offers umami flavor and sweet notes in one. Spring onions bring an aromatic green element, and because they’re one of the easiest vegetables to chop in quantity, they’re in our cheat’s filling.
The real time-saver is in the packing technique. Eliminate any folds at all and simply fold the wrapper in half to form a crescent shape. This means you have two surfaces to brown – rather than just the bottom in traditional potstickers – resulting in a double crunch factor.
While potstickers for family endeavors will always have a place in our hearts, this cheat potstickers are an ultimate staple of our comfort food repertoire. We think you should make them a part of yours too.
