Potstickers

What it is

Potstickers (鍋貼, guotie, literally "pot stick") are dumplings cooked in a flat pan rather than boiled. Most are long and narrow, with the ends frequently left unsealed. The base comes out golden and crunchy while the top stays soft. Pork is the standard filling, mixed with vegetables. They differ from fried dumplings (煎餃), which are boiled first and fried afterwards.

Where it came from

Potstickers are a northern Chinese street food. Nobody knows who first fried a raw dumpling instead of boiling it, and two popular stories try to fill the gap. One credits Mongol herders, who travelled with little cookware and found frying easier. The other has the Empress Dowager Cixi throwing stale dumplings over the palace wall, where beggars gathered them up and fried them. Neither story can be traced to any record.

In Taiwan the dish became the base of large chains. Sihai Youlong (四海遊龍) began in 1993 as a stall in Liuhe Market in Yonghe and built its trade on potstickers. Bafang Dumpling (八方雲集) opened its first shop in Tianmu, Taipei, in 1998. Its founder, Lin Jiayu, had been a maths teacher. The company now has more than 1,000 outlets in Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China.

How it is made

Raw dumplings are lined up close together in a lightly oiled flat pan and fried until the bottoms start to colour. Then a little water goes in and the pan is covered, so the steam cooks the filling and the upper wrapper. The open ends let the steam reach the meat quickly. The finished base is crisp, the top soft. Some cooks pour a thin flour-and-water batter into the pan near the end, which sets into a lacy crust joining the dumplings, called "ice flower" (冰花).

How to eat it

Dumpling chains and small noodle shops serve potstickers for lunch, dinner or a snack. In Taiwan a bowl of hot and sour soup (酸辣湯) is the classic partner. The basic dip is black vinegar, with chilli sauce or the shop's own chilli paste for those who like heat.