lemon ginger pot stickers

I saw these cuties over at Our best bites.  I've wanted to make them, but haven't wanted to take the time involved.  Although the girl over there says they are not hard or time consuming, I beg to differ.  They are not hard, but they are exceedingly time consuming.  Anything that has to be wrapped individually is going to take you some time.  I changed things up a bit from their directions because they wanted you to grind everything in a food processor and then have these exact amounts.  First I chopped my cabbage and it ended up being twice what I needed so I decided to almost double the recipe.  However, I got tired of grating lemon peel after 2 lemons, and I didn't dare add too much ginger (grateful I didn't they were a touch too gingery for me.)  I went with the entire can of water chestnuts.  It was just easier...  The results were great.  They were a bit too gingery, and I would have liked a tad more lemon flavor, but I adjusted by making the sauce more lemony.  It was probably a tad too tangy, so I'd change the sauce a bit next time.
 I'm writing what I did.  I will include what I would like to try next time as well.
Plan a good hour and a half to get these done.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup chopped cabbage (go for 3/4 cup.  That's what I did.)
• 4 green onions (could up to 6 and be fine)
• 1 can water chestnuts, finely chopped
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt (I'd leave this out next time and add more soy sauce.)
• 3 teaspoons fresh ginger (I use the jarred already chopped ginger.  I'd only use 2 teaspoons next time.)
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest (that was 2 lemons for me.  Would have liked 1 more.)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil
• 12 oz. ground chicken (I'd up to a full pound next time.)
• won ton wrappers
• oil

Dipping sauce

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice (juice of 1 lemon)
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger (jarred)
• this was quite tangy.  I may add a touch of sugar next time, but not much.  

Directions 

If you want super nice directions with pictures, go to Our best bites.

1. Finely chop cabbage, green onion, water chestnuts, and chicken  in a food processor and place in a large bowl.  Add the lemon zest, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil and salt and mix to combine.
2. Our best bites has a cute little pot sticker station going on to make these, but I just used 2 plates and a small bowl of water.  One plate to fill and one plate to put the filled pot stickers.  I didn't use corn starch because my won ton wrappers were so corn starched that they didn't need it. That being said, I placed one won ton wrapper on a plate, added a heaping teaspoon (probably almost 2 teaspoons) of mix. Wet the edges of the entire wonton.  Bring opposite corners together at the top.  Then bring the other 2 corners to the top sealing the edges as you go.  Place on the other plate.
3. You have to cook these in batches.  I managed to get 16 into my pan.  I still had to do 3 batches. For each batch,  Heat 1 1/2-2 Tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat.  Add pot stickers.  Cook for 2 minutes.  Add about 3/4 cups of water.  Cover and cook for 4 minutes.  Remove the lid and continue cooking for 3 minutes or until liquid is mostly evaporated.  Remove from pan.  Cover to keep warm (I didn't bother.  They cooled enough to be edible while the second batch cooked and after that, they were eaten as fast as they were cool.)
4. To make the sauce, just combine ingredients in a bowl.

You’ll have to cook these in batches and I find using a smaller pan and cooking about 10 at a time works best for me. Cook about 2 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. Carefully add 1/2 cup water to pan (If you use a really large skillet, you may need to add a bit more water to the pan) cover immediately and cook 4 minutes. Uncover and cook 3 minutes or until liquid evaporates. Repeat procedure with remaining pot stickers.