I fell for pot stickers as a kid. For special occasions, we’d meet my Uncle Sunny and Aunt Ginny in Portland, Oregon, at their favorite Chinese restaurant. My uncle was one of those people who made friends at his frequented haunts; he and the restaurant’s owners probably swapped their favorite spicy mustard recipes. As a kid, it amazed me that the staff knew to bring my sister a Shirley Temple, my mom fiery eggplant, and me vegetable pot stickers.

Vegetarian pot stickers can be hard to come by even in cities; the standard fillings lean toward pork. In northwest Montana, they’re nonexistent. Luckily, a local friend with Chinese roots loves to cook and share her creations, and I treasure invites to her kitchen. For a pot sticker gathering, we mix up batch after batch of dough and filling, just eyeballing the ratios, and many hands form it all into neat—or not so neat—edible packets. It’s a bit like making pie crust with Grandma Tiny: this recipe, which I make at home, is my best version of those recipe-free evenings with a practiced guide.
Learn to make Scratch-Made Pot Stickers with homemade fillings