Vegetarian Recipes
Vegetarian Gyoza Potstickers with Carrot and Paneer
These vegetarian gyoza potstickers are stuffed with a delicious mixture of carrots, shiitake mushrooms and paneer and are insanely easy to make! Don’t be intimidated because I have step by step instructions for you to make them at home
- Serves 3 portions
- Prep 30 minutes
- Cook 15 minutes
- Total 45 minutes
I first made these vegetarian gyoza popstickers filled with mushrooms, carrots and paneer when my friend Maggie, a food blogger from omnivores cookbook visited us a few years ago. She patiently answered all my 256 questions about how to make the perfect vegetarian gyozos and taught me how to wrap potstickers.
Traditionally, gyoza popstickers are made with a filling of pork and cabbage filling, but I have adapted this recipe for my vegetarian friends here. But don’t worry if you’re a meat lover, because these veg gyozas have a lovely umami flavors and the mushrooms help mimic the texture of meat beautifully. Believe me, vegetarian or not, you’re going to love these popstickers!
Here’s everything Maggie and I made cooked up when she was visiting us. In the picture:
Vegetarian Gyoza Potstickers with Carrot and Paneer (Adapted from these carrot dumplings)
Chinese Braised Chicken and Mushrooms
Top Tips To Make The Best Vegetarian Gyoza Potstickers
- Cut all the ingredients for the filling as evenly as possible. This will help everything cook evenly and deliver the best flavor and texture.
- Even though the filling can be customised based on what you have available, I would recommend using vegetables with a lower moisture content. This will prevent the gyoza skin from becoming soggy and breaking apart.
- This is a super meal-prep friendly recipe as gyoza freezes really. I usually make a big batch and store them in ziplock bags in the freezer. These last up to 3 months and can be simply taken out of the freezer and cooked whenever the cravings strike; no defrosting needed.
- This recipe is naturally vegetarian, but you can easily make it vegan by replacing paneer with tofu.
FAQs
Are you convinced yet? If you are giving these vegetarian gyoza potstickers a try, I also want to share with you this amazing video that Maggie made which will make making potstickers a cinch. The video already has over 900,000 views on YouTube and she goes into details of how to make your own homemade wrappers if you want to give that a go too!
Other Chinese Recipes You Might Enjoy
The recipe
Vegetarian Gyoza Potstickers with Carrot and Paneer
These vegetarian gyoza potstickers are stuffed with a delicious mixture of carrot, shiitake mushrooms and paneer and are insanely ease to make! Don’t be intimidated because I have step by step instructions for you to make them at home.
- Serves 3 portions
- Prep 30 minutes
- Cook 15 minutes
- Total 45 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons Oil
- 30 round Gyoza or Dumpling Wrappers
For the filling:
- 3 Carrots (peeled and diced)
- 1 cup dried Shiitake mushrooms (soaked in hot water for 30 minutes)
- 2 teaspoons Sesame Oil
- 1 teaspoon Ginger (minced)
- 1 teaspoon Garlic (minced)
- 1/2 cup Crumbled Paneer / Cottage Cheese
- 1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
Method
- 1
Drain the shiitake mushrooms, and add them to a food processor with the diced carrots. Pulse until everything is minced but not mushy. Alternatively, you can also grate the carrots, and chop the mushrooms finely with a knife.
- 2
To make the filling, heat sesame oil in a pan and add ginger and garlic to it. Saute for a few minutes till fragrant and add the carrot and shiitake mushrooms mixture. Cook the mixture for 4-5 minutes till the carrot is cooked through and add paneer, soy sauce, salt and pepper to the pan. Cook for another minute or so and set aside to cool.
- 3
To start wrapping the dumplings, prepare a large tray to keep the dumplings by spraying it with oil. Also keep a small bowl filled with water, the gyoza wrappers, the filling and a wet towel ready.
- 4
To wrap the dumplings, place the gyoza wrapper on your palm. Place the filling in the center and brush the edges with water. Start by bringing the center together and pinching it together with the index finger and thumb of one hand. With your other hand, start pleating one side of the wrapper onto the other till you have 2-3 pleats on either side. Pinch the edges together to seal the dumplings. (See video above to wrap dumplings)
- 5
Place them one by one on the greased tray, making sure they are not touching each other. Cover them with a wet towel to prevent them from drying out.
- 6
To cook the dumplings, heat a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet and place a few dumplings in the pan, making sure they don’t overlap. When the dumplings start to sizzle, add 1/4 cup water to the pan and cover. Cook until all the water evaporates and the dumplings start to sizzle again (about 4-5 minutes). Remove them and repeat for the remaining dumplings. Serve immediately with a dipping sauce.
Notes
To freeze dumplings, seal the tray of dumplings (making sure they don’t touch each other) with plastic wrap and place it in the freezer. When the dumplings are completely frozen, you can transfer them into a large ziplock bag. Store dumplings in the freezer for up to 3 months Frozen dumplings will take an additional 2-3 minutes to cook Gyoza wrappers are easily available in the frozen section of large grocery stores
Nutrition
- Calories 418 kcal
- Carbohydrates 58 g
- Protein 13 g
- Fat 15 g
- Saturated Fat 2 g
- Cholesterol 13 mg
- Sodium 1323 mg
- Potassium 449 mg
- Fiber 4 g
- Sugar 4 g
- Vitamin A 10240 IU
- Vitamin C 4 mg
- Calcium 84 mg
- Iron 3 mg
Common questions
1. What are chinese potstickers?
Chinese potstickers are basically dumplings (also known as momos in India) that are stuffed and pan fried. Their name comes from the Chinese name 鍋貼 guotie which literally means ‘pan stick’. While cooking potstickers, they literally stick to the pan hence the name. Dumplings which are boiled or steamed are called 水餃 shuijiao and 蒸餃 zhengjiao respectively.
2. How to cook potstickers?
I have step by step instructions to cook these vegetarian gyoza potstickers for you below, but to summarize, once they are wrapped, they are added to a pan with some oil. Once the bottom gets nicely toasted and golden brown, a little water is added to the pan to steam them. The entire water evaporates and you are left with potstickers that sort of stick to the pan and have a crispy bottom.
3. Can I steam these dumplings?
Absolutely, if you are not a fan of pan frying dumplings, you can always place these in a steamer and steam them for 8-10 minutes.
4. What’s the difference between gyoza and potstickers?
So gyoza and potstickers come from two different regions – Japan and China respectively. Gyozas are very similar to potstickers in the sense that they are pan fried as well, but are smaller, more delicate and made with pre-fabricated sheets (which is what I used to make these vegetarian gyoza potstickers). Potstickers are made with homemade wrappers and have a slightly thicker wrapping. Since I’m going to need Maggie to come down again to teach me how to make the homemade wrappers, I decided to call this recipe vegetarian gyoza potstickers.
5. What goes into the dipping sauce for potstickers?
According to Maggie, the dipping sauce for these vegetarian gyoza potstickers is made by whisking together soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, brown sugar and crushed red pepper flakes (optional). I also added some sesame seeds for flavor and crunch. And let me tell you, that potsticker dipping sauce is crazy good!
