The GYOZA

Well, I guess it was inevitable. Until recently they were mainly known only to Asian food lovers and RMs but it seems mainsteam North America has finally discovered Gyoza. You know something has really arrived when Costco starts selling it right!

First a little history. When I first went to Japan all those years ago everything was new, the country, the language, the food, everything.
Although I soon became accustomed to Japanese food, at first everything seemed weird, slimy, smelly or all of the above.
One of the first foods we quickly learned to rely on was Gyoza.
They were delicious, cheap, filling, and didn't have any funky ingredients to worry about.
(Over here they are often sold under the name "Potstickers" for some silly reason.)

Anyway there were many Gyoza places, especially around Osaka where I was, where you could get one "line" (6 pieces) of Gyoza for about $1.20.
It took about 4 lines (24) and a bowl of rice to fill me up then. I don't need quite so many nowadays.

About a week ago I was at KJAMBD's home and Kendall made some nice sushi and Meg brought over some wings and some of these gyoza-ish dumpling's that she had bought at Costco I believe. They were good and all but nothing like the real thing.

Originally Gyoza came from China. But like many foods that came from other places, the Japanese improved on the original.
You've probably seen and maybe tried the "dumplings" at a Chinese buffet. So have I, at many places. They are never very good. I have never found any to compare to the Japanese version of fried Gyoza. So, just in case you feel you may be ready for "The Gyoza", please don't settle for any substandard version you can buy here and there. Making them yourself is easy and they are so so much better. Here is what you'll need:

1 pkg. - gyoza skins (aprox. 70)


1 lb. - ground pork
3/4 - 1 head - cabbage
1 bunch – green onions
2 - eggs
3 cloves – garlic
1 section (2 inches) – ginger
3 TBSP – mirin (rice cooking wine)
3 TBSP – soy sauce (Japanese style)
1 TBSP – sesame oil

Peanut oil to fry in

Dipping sauce
1 part rice vinegar
1 part soy sauce
few drops of La-yu oil to taste

-First cut up cabbage just small enough to enable boiling in a pot for a couple of minutes to soften it up. Remove and cool under cold water. Then squeeze out as much water as you can from it.
-Chop up into fine bits
-Chop up 6 to 8 green onions finely
-beat eggs lightly
-Grate garlic and ginger into paste
-Combine ingredients also add mirin, soy sauce, sesame oil and some salt and pepper
-Mix well with hands until well mixed and redundant
-Cover and let marinate in fridge for one hour

Assembly
You'll need the gyoza goo, skins, a spoon and a small bowl of water
(This goes much quicker if you have two or three people to help)

Lay one skin in your baseball glove hand, scoop out about 1 TBSP of goo (or as much as you can fit and still close the thing) and place in center of skin.


Dip any available finger of baseball throwing hand into water and transfer wet to edge of half of gyoza skin (this will make the two sides stick when you close it up.)
While making a few folds in near edge close up gyoza. Done.
(This part takes a little practice but I would be glad to show you in person if you like)

Finished gyoza should be covered immediately as skins are quite thin and will dry out if left out too long.
Any gyoza not to be cooked presently should be frozen raw until use. Sprinkle surface with corn starch so they don't stick.


Cooking
Use large frying pan with well fitting lid
-Spray with Pam or one of her friends
-Add a little peanut oil for flavour (other oil will do but slighty lamer)
-place gyoza into med-high heated pan, cover and let bottoms brown for 2 or 3 minutes
-Add hot tap water to produce steam (maybe 3/4 or 1 cup) and steam vigorously with lid on for 7 minutes or so. If water is gone before 7 minutes are up add a little more. You need 7 minutes of old west locomotive grade steam basically. A little more won't hurt but you want the water to be gone before you remove the gyoza so not too much.

Serve hot with dipping sauce (above) and a bowl of rice for authenticity. Enjoy!