Pan fried dumplings (or pot-stickers) are such a pleasure to eat. They're juicy on the inside, crispy at the bottom, and filled with flavour! PLUS, they're nutritious and easy to make. First time forming the dumpling may seem a bit 'no idea where to start' but after a bit of practice, you'll get the hang of it and (hopefully like me) find it quite therapeutic once you get into the groove of it!
There are 3 components to pan-fried dumplings:
- Dumpling sheets
- Filling
- Dipping sauce
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How to make dumpling wrappers (sheets)
Ingredients: all purpose flour & warm water
Step 1 Making the dough
Super simple, throw flour and warm water into a mixing bowl, roughly mix with one hand until it combined. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured benchtop then knead your warm dough until it becomes nice and smooth (about 3 minutes). Form into a small ball and rest for 10min.
Warm water - helps soften the dough which makes rolling the wrappers really easy. The dumpling dough also has a softer texture once it is cooked. Using room temperature water is totally fine too, just rest your dough for 20min before begin making the wrappers - step 2.
Step 2 Rolling dumpling sheets
You know your dough is well-rested when it does not spring back up when you press into it with your fingers. Like below pic:
To form the dumpling sheets (ensure your workspace is lightly floured):
- Divide the dough into 2 and roll both out into long thin sausages - approx 15cm long each
- With a lightly floured knife, cut the dough into small cubes, about just over 1cm width. This should give you approx 24 cubes
- Flatten each dough cube with the palm of your hand (lightly floured), cut side up
- To roll a circular sheet, generously flour both sides of a dough disk, roll out the dough with a rolling pin, turning the dough sheet in a circular motion (about 45 degrees at a time) after each roll with the rolling pin until a round thing sheet is formed
- Repeat to form 24 dumpling sheets (ensure both sides are generously floured before stacking on top of each other to avoid sticking)
How to make dumpling filling
Ingredients: Fatty pork mince, shredded cabbage, minced ginger, soy sauce, shiaoxing wine, sesame oil, salt, white pepper
Note: make the filling whilst the dough rest to save time.
Simply combine all ingredients and MIX! Emphasis on the mix because you want the filling to be thoroughly mixed until the ingredients are sticking together (almost paste like). Easiest is to mix with a hand.
Wrapping instructions
To wrap the dumpling:
- Sit 1 dumpling wrap on the palm of one hand and spoon about 1 tablespoon of filling onto the wrap
- Pinch top and bottom of wrap together
- Fold and pinch both sides until dumpling formed. Make sure dumpling is completely sealed
Cooking instructions
Drizzle a little oil on non-stick frying pan at medium high heat, place dumplings and a little water (¼ cup) and lid on. Make sure there is a little space between dumplings and that they're not on top of each other. There is no need to turn the dumplings throughout the cooking process.
Total cooking time is approx. 7 minutes. After 6 minutes I usually take the lid off to help evaporate all the water. Dumplings are ready when the bottom crisps and reach a lovely golden colour!
To fry 24 dumplings, it'll take about 2 - 3 batches, depending on how big your frying pan is.
Dipping sauce
Ingredients: Soy sauce, black vinegar, sugar, minced ginger, minced garlic and sesame oil
Mix all ingredients together and enjoy with these delicious dumplings!
Have a go, these pan-fried dumplings (pot-stickers) are worth all the effort! Hope you enjoy this recipe and let me know by commenting below if you have any questions, thoughts, suggestions!
📖 Recipe
Pan-fried dumplings
Equipment
- Rolling pin
- Non-stick frying pan
Ingredients
Dumpling sheets
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- ¾ cup warm water
- or 1 pack of store bought dumpling sheets (see Note 1)
Filling
- 300 g /11oz pork mince Ideally fatty but lean mince works too
- 3 cups finely shredded cabbage
- 1 tsp minced ginger I use a small grater
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp shaoxing wine
- 1 tsp white pepper
- salt
- ¼ tsp sesame oil
Dipping sauce
- ½ tsp ginger minced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp black vinegar Substitute: malt vinegar
- 3 drops sesame oil about ⅛ tsp
- 1 tsp caster sugar
For pan frying
- 2 tbsp neutral flavoured oil Canola or sunflower
- water
Instructions
Dumpling sheets
- Place flour and water in a bowl and mix with one hand until combined. Tip the dough onto lightly floured benchtop and knead until smooth (approx. 3min). Form dough into a ball, cover and rest for 10min.
- Divide dough into 2 and form into long sausages, approx 15cm each.
- Using a lightly floured knife, cut dough into small cubes, just over 1cm thick each. You should get about 24.
- Flatten each cube with palm of a hand and use a rolling pin to roll out into a thin circular dough sheet. Ensure the dough is generously floured to avoid sticking.
Making the dumplings
- Combine all filling ingredients and thoroughly mix through.
- To make a dumpling; place 1 dumpling sheet onto the palm of one hand and with the other, spoon 1tbsp of filling in center of the sheet then pinch and seal the top and bottom. Fold a small portion of top dumpling skin slightly towards the centre, pinch and seal to the bottom sheet. Repeat until both sides of dumpling are pleated and sealed.
- Repeat for all dumplings and make sure benchtop is lightly floured to avoid sticking!
- Cook dumplings in 2 - 3 batches, depending on size of pan. For each batch, add 1 tbsp of oil into a non-stick frying pan, place dumplings into pan (make sure they're not overlapping) and ¼ cup of water. Lid on and cook for 7 minutes until all water is absorbed and evaporated and bottom of dumpling is crispy and golden.
- Combine all dipping sauce ingredients and serve with your delicious dumplings!
Notes
Nutrition
Other great Asian recipes
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