Gyoza!

Intro: Gyoza!

No, it's not a Japanese movie monster, but Japanese dumplings. There are endless varieties and recipies, of which this is just one, but the method is the same for all.

(Truthfully, this picture shows the ingredients for a different, chicken-based dumpling)

You'll need:

1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 cups chopped or shredded Nappa or cabbage
1 small onion, chopped (about 1/4c)
1 clove garlic, smashed and chopped
1/4 cup shredded carrot
1/2 pound ground pork
1 egg

Cook the vegetables in the sesame oil until soft. Add the pork and the egg and stir until the pork is well cooked.

Let the mixture cool

STEP 1: Filling

Lay the gyoza wrappers on your plate or cutting board. Place a tablesopoon of filling on each. Wet half the wrapper with a finger dipped in cold water, fold over, and press.

STEP 2: Cooking

Here you have several options- you can:

- deep fry them in oil until browned

- pan fry then in oil until browned

- drop them in boiling water, and scoop them out when they float

- steam them

STEP 3: Serve!

Serve with a dipping sauce made from soy sauce and rice vinegar. Enjoy.

(More food tricks at http://smsfr.blogspot.com)

Comments

[dataphool]

mje--we have to stop meeting like this. How is a Gyoza wrapper differ from an eggroll wrapper? And, I understood the Japanese were semi-vegetarian with respect (Shintoist) to pork and beef, although billions of fish do not breath easily, so is the pork merely your addition to the recipe? Your recipe looks good enough to to persuade me that it is meant to eat.

[mje]

Basically, it's round, and usually thicker. Gyoza are just the Japanese version of Chinese dumplings, although Chinese dumplings can be round, too. It gets confusing. The Japanese diet has changed tremendously over the past century, influenced heavily by European cuisine. For example, Tonkatsu, which is basically a breaded pork cutlet, is one of the most popular foods in Japan. There's a lot of pork in the modern Japanese diet.

[jeffreyf]

Not to mention big bowls of pork ramen.

[meatchris]

 or yakiniku

[spark master]

shouldn't the egg be raw to make the stuff stick together?if you cook it in the pork it will not be that nice pate like mass in the dumpling, no? Additionally you might consider a little corn starch or arrow root added to the cooled mixture before the eggs then pushed into forms and wrappers?

One time I watched the chefs in japanes restaurant I worked at make dumpling they poured boiling water over the dumplings they poached at high heat till the water was gone then they burned a bit on the bottom, nice effect.. I was doing electrical work so they paid no attention to me at all. They finally fed me one day. Japanese is never going to be a favorite for me, but the dumplings and the hibachi terriyaki Chix were ok.

nice intructable though glad I clicked on it.

swaz

[Lady_reverie]

Heres a tip so they aren't so fragile and kind of mushy, after boiling them, try frying them in a pan with a bit of oil to make them a bit more easy to handle (;

[Kintri]

I'll try to put up an instructable on it then =) when I have the chance to take pictures...might have dumplings sometime this week =D
Only prob my mum cooks without using exact measures...she estimates (i believe all fantastic cooks do that, they are so experienced by then) so I will have to watch her closely to get any measurements for the ingredients!

[Kintri]

the skins of wantons and gyozas do not have egg in them, they are basically made of flour, salt and water.
a great variation is to add shrimp/prawn meat to the pork (that's how my mum makes them =)) and it gives the whole dumpling a lovely chewy bite.

[mje]

I'd love to see that recipe.

[CharlieD]

A question. I see you have ready made sckins there. The pot sticers sckins are too small for gayoza. What and where do you buy?

[mje]

I buy a variety of wrappers, both at the grocery, where they carry the basic square wonton skins, and at a couple of Asian markets. I just dug out my Italian noodle machine, and I'm going to try to make my own, too...