We all know (or we should) that any dish that we cook, correctly, at home tastes better than at your average restaurant. Okay, okay, there are a few exceptions. And, as the bill goes up the chances are usually better that at some point the quality of the food may meet or exceed homemade goodness. But, in general, if you don't skimp on quality ingredients and you take all the steps to do it right, your homemade versions will almost always be more flavorful than your average beanery.
OK, so what the hell do I know about making potstickers? Well, I learned a bit about Chinese dumplings, in general, during my two years wandering around Hong Kong and from our little 80+ ( at the time) amah named Fi. (Although, since we had two Americans and two British blokes living in our house, Fi would always try to feed us pork chops, mashed potatoes and peas! We would play hell getting her to cook anything Chinese.) But, I have to give the majority of the credit to Irene Kuo and her excellent Chinese cook book, "The Key To Chinese Cooking". And then, of course, I played with the cooking technique to eliminate some of the "land mines" and simplify the process.
They aren't called Potstickers for nothing. I learned that lesson the hard way. For several years, I would get together with a couple of friends and we would serve a six-eight course Chinese extravaganza for a dozen or so people on New Years Eve. Only one year did I dare to try potstickers. The original technique calls for browning the dumplings in a large skillet, then adding oiled water and covering the pan to let them steam cook. Then removing the lid and continue cooking until the water was mostly gone. Finally, you turn up the heat and brown one side and serve. Sounds easy, right? POTSTICKER HASH! It was embarrassing. (Almost as bad as the raw Sweet and Sour Sea Bass I tried to serve one year.) And, it was years before I tried it again. I finally came across a Fail Safe method that cooks the potstickers perfectly, virtually every time. And it even allows you to do most of the prep well ahead of time so you can just finish them and serve at your leisure.
So, enough of this prattling on. Let's get to it. There are three distinct parts you need to know about. (A) Making the filling and filling the dough (B) Cooking the potstickers properly (C) Making the all-important dipping sauce.