Now that the Christmas trees have been undressed and your resolutions have been made – and may already be on their way to being broken – it’s almost time to celebrate again. If you’ve been lucky enough to partake in a traditional Chinese New Year celebration, you know it can be a ton of fun.
With a strong love of her Chinese ancestry, celebrity chef Nicole Gomes always looks forward to celebrating the New Year with her family and friends. Running one of Western Canada’s premier catering companies, Nicole Gourmet, sees this Top Chef Canada alum cooking up anything from refined canapes to coursed dinners for groups of six people to 600. Needless to say, Gomes knows how to make food that is party-friendly and approachable for anyone.
“These pork and vegetable potstickers are great for a party. You can make a ton of them in advance and they just take minutes to cook,” says Gomes.
Tips from Nicole Gomes
- If you’re making the dough, make sure you’re using boiling water. It gives the dough a really elastic texture and the dumplings will be easier to fill.
- Premix the filling 24 hours in advance if possible. The mixture can marinate and you’ll have better flavour.
- A lot of people like to skimp on sugar in recipes, but don’t do it here. Using a bit of sugar in most savoury recipes is a very traditional thing in Chinese cooking.
- Once the filling has been made, test its flavour by making a small patty and cooking it in a pan. Taste it and adjust seasoning if necessary. You don’t want to make 50 potstickers and then find out after that they taste bland.
- Once you’ve browned the bottom of your potstickers and are ready to add the water, pour it into the pan until it’s halfway up the side of the potstickers. It’s the perfect amount.
Dan Clapson is a food writer and columnist from Calgary. He writes for a number of media outlets including Avenue, Culinaire, Flavours and FoodNetwork.ca as well as his own websites eatnorth.ca and dansgoodside.com.