pork and chive potstickers.

If there is a way to enclose something in some kind of little bun, wrapper, bread filled pocket, you can pretty much guarantee I am going to be obsessed with it.

I'm looking at you calazones, empanadas, bao, and (now) gyoza aka potstickers.

Gyoza are pockets of porky goodness.  Or in this case pork and chive which is one of those quintessential Asian pairings that I can't seem to get enough of.

But of course we couldn't leave this to just include pork and chives!  We need a little flavor boost and that means lots of minced garlic and ginger and a generous pour of soy sauce, rice vinegar, and (hot) sesame oil.  And then that filling gets stuffed into gyoza wrappers to be boiled and pan fried where they come out hot. crispy, impossibly juicy, and rather addicting.

Pork and Chive Potstickers

1 cup minced chives
3 cloves garlic minced
1 tablespoon ginger minced
1/2 pound ground pork
1 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
1 1/12 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon hot pepper sesame oil
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
10 turns of black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons water
24 gyoza wrappers
Additional oil for frying

In a large bowl, combine all filling ingredients.

Place a couple of teaspoons of filling in the center of a gyoza wrapper.  Wet the edges of the wrapper with water and then fold over the wrapper to seal the edges.  Set aside on a baking sheet covered with a dish towel.  Repeat with the remaining wrappers.   

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium high heat. Next to it, heat a few tablespoons of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Boil dumplings for 4 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon (allowing excess water to drip off), and then transfer them to the frying pan (step back because this process could get spitty). Once the bottoms of the potstickers are browned, pat off any excess oil with a paper towel and then enjoy with soy sauce/sriracha.