Potstickers get their name and their entire technique from a single cooking method that combines two opposite ways of cooking in one pan: fried first, then steamed, without ever moving the dumplings between pots. That sequence is deliberate, not just convenient. The initial dry fry sets and browns the bottom into a crisp, contact-browned crust — the part that actually "sticks" to the pot, giving the dish its name — while the water added afterward creates steam that cooks the filling through and softens the top of the wrapper, leaving each dumpling with two distinct textures on one piece of dough.

Squeezing the salted cabbage thoroughly dry before it goes into the filling is one of the more important, easy-to-underestimate steps in the whole process. Cabbage holds a surprising amount of water, and if that moisture isn't drawn out and squeezed away first, it leaks into the filling during mixing and again during cooking, both making the wrappers soggy and prone to tearing, and diluting the pork mixture into something wetter and less cohesive than it should be.

Sealing the wrapper firmly, with the classic pleated fold rather than just pressing the edges flat, does more than look traditional — the pleats create small overlapping folds that grip together more securely than a flat seam, which matters once the dumpling is subjected to both the initial fry and the vigorous bubbling of the steaming stage. A weakly sealed edge is the most common reason filling escapes into the pan partway through cooking.

Adding the water carefully and covering the pan immediately afterward is a genuine safety and technique concern — cold water hitting hot oil creates a burst of steam and sputtering almost instantly, so pouring it in along the side of the pan rather than directly over the dumplings, and having the lid ready to go on right after, keeps things controlled rather than chaotic.

Resisting the urge to lift the lid and check on the dumplings partway through steaming matters more than it seems — every peek releases trapped steam and heat, which both slows the cooking process and risks an uneven result, with some dumplings fully steamed through and others still underdone by the time the water has evaporated.

Serve with a light soup on the side — Egg Drop Soup is a fast, simple pairing that doesn't compete with the dumplings.