In the manga Good Morning Call, the heroine of the story accidentally broke a couple expensive bowls when she ran into a ramen shop worker, Issei. A customer ordered them and they were being delivered. Upset, Issei insisted that Nao work in the shop to pay off the broken bowls. One of the other menu items at the restaurant besides ramen was Gyoza.
Before the manga,, I haven’t heard of gyoza. Like what is that? Gyoza is a dumpling that is originally from China. I looked it up online and I learned that another name is potstickers. Ooohh, I’ve those before. They are oiishi. So I had to make them myself. I made mine the most basic of recipes, so you can liven it up if you would like, adding more vegetables and seasonings.
Shopping
When I go shopping, I typically search for everything I need at the regular grocery store, but I couldn’t find the gyoza wrappers, only wonton. I was almost going to buy them, but I decided to go to the Asian market before I give up. I found them and the package comes with so many. After buying them, I discovered that you can make the wrappers yourself. I probably would have done that if I thought of it.
The Process
So I mixed the ingredients together to discover that it’s going to take a lot longer than I anticipated. It was surely a learning process. I thoroughly enjoy trying to make new things and I hope you do too. I prepared the meat mixture and got a bowl of water. When I initially started to make them. I would either add too much or not enough food in the wrapper. Also the folding is difficult if you aren’t used to doing something similar. Just One Cookbook has a visual of how to do it.
Gyoza Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pkg gyoza wrappers
- 1 Tbsp neutral flavor oil vegetable, canola, etc (for frying each batch of gyoza)
- ¼ cup water for frying each batch of gyoza
- ---Filling---
- ¾ lb ground pork
- 2-3 leaves cabbage blanched and chopped
- 2 green onion/scallion chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 inch fresh ginger grated
- ---Seasonings---
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- ¼ tsp Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- ---Dipping Sauce---
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
Instructions
- 1. Make the filling by mixing all the ingredients together. Add the seasonings and mix together until the mixture is sticky.
- 2. Grab a wrapper and put in your non-dominant hand. Dip one finger in a bowl of water and place it around the border of the wrapper. It should be no more than 1/4 inch.
- 3. Fold the wrapper in half. Make folds/pleats on each side towards the middle about every 1/4 inch. Press every pleat down hard.
- 4. Heat a pan over medium-high heat. Add canola oil. When hot, add gyoza flat-side down in a circular shape. Cook until gyoza are brown on the bottom (about 3 minutes).
- 5. Add ¼ cup of water to the pan. Cover with lid and steam the gyoza until most of the water evaporates.
- 6. Mix together the ingredients for the dipping.
- Remove the lid to allow any other water evaporate. Add the sesame oil. Cook until the bottom is crispy.
Reaction
So I finally got them all complete. I used all the wrappers and I still had a lot of meat left over. I served them with Soboro scrambled eggs with rice and the Iced Mint Tea recipe. It was so yummy. I had many leftovers and so I add it for lunch over the next following days. You can always freeze them. Put them on a baking sheet leaving some space between to keep them from sticking, and put it in freezer. Transfer frozen gyoza into a freezer bag and store in the freezer up to a month. When you use frozen gyoza, do not defrost. Cook while frozen and steam for extra 1-2 minutes.
Have you made these or ate them before? Share your experience below.
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