Pork and Spinach Pot Stickers with Citrus-Soy Sauce

I love pot stickers. The only place I could have them was at TGIF.
I was very happy because I like the place but I do not like the food, well, except for those pot stickers. They come served on a bed of shredded cabbage with a traditional soy-sesame dipping sauce but with more vinegar than usual. I liked that after eating the dumplings I would pour the remainder of the sauce over the cabbage and get a salad as a bonus. There were 6 of them but they were larger then the ones that are made with Gyoza skins.

When they removed them from the menu a while back, we stopped going there. The rest of their menu is so-so and the pot stickers were really all I liked to eat there.

The Nudge would always get a burger but I always ordered the pot stickers.


When I could not ease my craving for pot stickers anywhere near here, I had to learn to make my own. Besides the fact that they seem labor intensive, you can knock out 30 of them in about an hour. Best thing to do, as with any Chinese dish, get your mise en place in order before you even attempt to make them. Once you are set up it's boom boom done. You really can't cook them ahead, they don't reheat well, so I have them lined up on a sheet pan with a towel over them, ready to go when The Nudge gets home. They only take 20 minutes to cook.

I could not find Gyoza skins so I used Wonton wrappers which are thinner and square.

Wonton wrappers are very diapropriate, which means they are excellent for diabetics.
The Nutrition Facts are excellent and the filling, as with most Chinese-based dishes is low in calories, fat and carbs.

If you want to make all sorts of filled pastas, I suggest you purchase a set of three dumpling makers. I use them all the time.

I made these with ground pork but chicken would also be good. If I was serving these as a side I would have made them totally vegetarian but they were the main dish and The Nudge likes something more substantial. I followed the recipe as was written except for the ground pork and wonton's.


Gyoza with Soy-Citrus Sauce
Adapted from My Recipes

(makes 28 dumplings + 8 tbls sauce)
* 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
* 1 tablespoon less-sodium soy sauce
* 1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind
* 1 teaspoon fresh orange juice
* 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
* 8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and chopped
* 8 ounces button mushrooms, chopped
* 2 green onions, cut into 2-inch pieces
* 2 garlic cloves
* Cooking spray
* 6 ounces chopped fresh spinach
* 28 gyoza skins
* 2 teaspoons peanut oil, divided
* 1/2 cup organic vegetable broth, divided
* 1/3 cup fresh orange juice
* 1 tablespoon less-sodium soy sauce
* 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
* Fresh chives (optional)

1. Combine first 10 ingredients in a food processor, and process until finely chopped.

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork and brown, then add mushroom mixture and spinach to pan; cook 10 minutes or until liquid evaporates, stirring frequently. Cool slightly.

3. Moisten edges of gyoza skin with water, working with 1 gyoza skin at a time (cover remaining skins to prevent drying). Spoon about 1 tablespoon spinach mixture into center of circle. Fold in half, pinching edges together to seal. Place dumpling, seam side up, on a baking sheet (cover loosely with a towel to prevent drying). Repeat procedure with remaining wrappers and filling.

4. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of dumplings to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove from pan; keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining 1 teaspoon oil and remaining dumplings. Add 1/4 cup broth, 1/3 cup juice, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and vinegar to pan; bring to a boil. Place dipping sauce in a small bowl.

5. Add remaining 1/4 cup broth to pan; bring to a boil. Add dumplings; cover and cook 2 minutes or until tender. Remove from pan. Serve with dipping sauce; top with chives, if desired.