Chinese New year is an important holiday, celebrated in countries and territories with major Chinese populations. It has many traditional components to the celebration, which spans fifteen days, with additional traditions taking place in the preceding days.
The practices surrounding this holiday encompass traditional clothing, music, gifts, and foods, as well as other celebratory elements. Since I love cooking and write a cooking/food blog, I’d like to focus on the feast part of it, so I chose one recipe to share with you.
Jau gok, or Pot Stickers as they are known in English, are one of the traditional foods eaten during Chinese New Year celebrations, and they are an easy recipe that doesn’t take very long and is a great way to involve your children with cooking. If you are studying this holiday, this is a great recipe to incorporate into your schedule, and a great hands-on way to make a memory with your children that will stick with them.
So, let’s get cooking!
Gather your ingredients:
- 1 lb ground pork
- ¼ c finely minced cabbage
- inches fresh ginger
- big cloves garlic
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 pkg Pot Sticker wraps (or wonton wrappers)
- ½ c water (for each cooking pan full)
- soy sauce for dipping
And follow these steps:
Slice the side of a wedge of cabbage very thinly, then mince finely. Peel and mince the garlic; I used my handy dandy garlic press. Peel and grate the fresh ginger on the small grating side (not the picky side you might use to zest a lemon).
In a mixing bowl, place the ground pork, cabbage, ginger, garlic, black pepper, salt, and toasted sesame oil. Mix together well.
I used wonton wrappers because I couldn’t find Pot Sticker wrappers, so I’ll tell you how to assemble these using those. Get yourself a small bowl of water ready.
Lay the wrapper like a diamond, with a point facing you. Place a small amount, about 2 tsp, of the filling in the center. Dip your finger into the water and wipe it on the edge of the two top sides of the diamond shape.
Fold the bottom “triangle” of the wrapper up to the top, matching edges, and seal with fingers.
When you have them all done, heat a skillet on medium with a coating of oil covering it. Place the Pot Stickers (as many as you can; I fit 14 in at a time) in the skillet and turn the heat to high. Use tongs to turn them when they are golden brown and slightly crispy. This takes very little time, so be watchful and quick.
When the other side is browned, add the ½ cup of water and immediately cover with the lid. Cook until the water has evaporated, then turn the heat to low. Cook for another two minutes.
You’ll have to do the above for each skillet of Pot Stickers, so you’ll need to make sure you have the ½ cup of water ready again. Just reminding you. 
Here they are, done and in all their Pot Stickery glory. Serve with a small ramekin of soy sauce. Or, if all of your ramekins have mysteriously disappeared, like mine have, (but we won’t go there!) use any small container you can find.
Enjoy!
