I adore pot stickers. I mean, really love them. Like, a lot. I’m also a huge fan, as many of you already know, of preserving our summer bounty for winter consumption.

The one thing I generally dislike about Chinese food is the prep. I feel like I prep and prep and prep and then make food, but then feel like I’m prepping again for the next course and then cooking. Arrrggg! No.

So, to alleviate that feeling, I prep a bunch of pot stickers and then freeze them for another day. Yes, it’s a lot of work one day, but then later when I’m really craving pot stickers, I can just pull them out of the freezer and they are ready in less than 15 minutes. Seriously.

I’ve listed a recipe below, but don’t feel like you need to stick to it. The last time I made pot stickers, I used a shrimp version for some. I also did some with just a little pork and some with a lot of pork. I honestly liked them all and it was fun to have variety. Do whatever works best for you. There’s a lot of flexibility with these.

Pork Pot Stickers

Ingredients:

• 1 medium Green cabbage, finely shredded
• 1 lb ground pork
• 2 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated
• 1 large carrot, julienned
• 5 scallion, thinly sliced
• 5 cloves garlic, grated
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
• freshly ground pepper
• 75-100 gyoza (pot sticker) wrappers
• corn starch
• Slurry (for cooking from frozen) 1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 3 Tbsp cold water

Directions:

1. Mix together ingredients (cabbage through freshly ground pepper) in a large bowl. You have enough ingredients to do two variations…some with heavy pork and some with less or no pork. Your call.
2. Get a small bowl of water with a pastry brush or you can use your fingers.
3. Place somewhere between a teaspoon and tablespoon of filling on half of the gyoza. Use your pastry brush or fingers to wet all four sides of gyoza. Fold over and press to seal. You can do this any way you wish…exactly in half, on a diagonal, more like a tortellini shape…it doesn’t matter. Place on a sheet pan sprinkled with corn starch.
4. Once finished, place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes or over night. Then place in a freezer bag with another teaspoon or so of corn starch.
5. To prepare from frozen, heat a small saute pan (mine hold 5 pot stickers) over medium-high heat. Add frozen pot stickers to pan. Pour cornstarch slurry into pan and cover. Cook for 5-7 minutes, until almost all the liquid has evaporated. Invert pan onto a plate. The pot stickers should easily slide out of pan and have a nice crispy layer.