Happy Lunar New Year!

Let me preface by saying that I am NOT Chinese. Lunar New Year, called Chinese New Year in most Western countries, is significant as a Buddhist holiday, not specifically as a Chinese one. That being said, most people don't know or recognize this and therefore think it's only for the Chinese to celebrate. I disagree, and celebrate it for the important religious holiday it is.

I won't get into the symbolism of the various traditions that are carried on around the world; I'm just here to talk about the food, which is really the only reason most Westerners care about today. Tonight I'm making pork and shrimp potstickers, sweet and sour pork, and steamed sponge cake. I'm not going to post these recipes - they can be found all over the Internet and in most Asian cookbooks. What I want to share is a secret for making quick and easy potsticker wrappers, as they are something that is much tastier homemade.

You can buy the little frozen sheets of round dough in any Asian supermarket, but why would you when making them is (contrary to popular belief) so simple? All you need is a double recipe of the dough (4 cups flour, 1/2 tsp salt, and about 1 cup boiling water), an old-fashioned stainless steel pasta maker, and a tin can. Just roll out the dough in the pasta maker the way you normally would for pasta. When it reaches the desired thickness, leave it in a flat sheet. Dip the open end of the can in flour and use it to cut rounds from the dough. There will be some scraps left over, but that's why you double the recipe. Quick (relatively; you still ahve to let the dough rest for an hour after adding the boiling water), and much less work than rolling out each individual wrapper by hand, but with the same tasty, fresh-made results.