Homemade Pork Gyoza

Yaki-gyoza in Japanese, 锅贴 (guo tie) in Mandarin and pot stickers in American, all refer to these delicious meat filled dumplings.

The exterior of the dumpling is both tender and toothsome (the top portion that have been steamed) as well as crispy and fragrant (the bottom portion that have been pan fried). When you bite into the dumpling, the mixture of the gravy from the meat and vegetables just adds on to the whole eating experience. Drooling...

My youngest finds it fun to wrap this dumplings with me and always jumps at any opportunity to drop her homework and help me wrap these. I am not very skillful at wrapping these  either (as you can tell from the pictures, the folds are not neat and even). But with the wonder of YouTube, I was able to pick up some videos that teaches me how to. 

I did not make the dumpling wrappers from scratch as they are readily available in the supermarkets. 

Homemade Gyoza
(makes about 20 gyoza)
Meat filling
Ingredients:
300g minced pork, beef or chicken
20g fresh black fungus mushroom, finely chopped
100g cabbage, finely chopped*
1 Tbsp cilantro or spring onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt 
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp corn starch

For pan frying:
1 Tbsp vegetable oil ( I used canola oil)
100ml water

* Wash and finely chop the cabbage. Add 1 tsp of salt to it and mix. Let cabbage sit for 15 min. You will noticed that the salt have extract some water from the cabbage. Drain the water and squeeze the excess liquid from the cabbage using your hand (work in batches) or using a tea towel. This process will ensure that the cabbage will stay crunchy after it is cooked.

Steps to filling:

• Place meat and all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix until combined. 
• Using a pair of chopsticks or a metal spoon, stir the mixture in a circular motion until the mixture comes together. It is ready when you can form a ball of the filling very easily and  the meat have formed the 'glue' holding the other ingredients together. 
• At this stage, the meat filling can be kept in the fridge in an air tight container for up to 2 days.
• Fill each dumpling wrapper with 1/2 tablespoon of meat filling. 
• Moisten the edge of the wrapper, with your finger, with water and seal the edge of the dumpling. 
• Video on how to fold a gyoza.
• Heat up non-stick pan on medium high and add 1 tablespoon of oil.
• Immediately place the gyoza into the pan with the sealed side up.
• Then let the pan heat up for 1 minute and add all the water into the pan (be careful as the oil will splatter) and cover for 3 minutes. (This is to create the steam to cook the gyoza)
• Uncover the pan. Turn to medium heat and let the oil and the heat do its magic of creating the crispy bottom. This should only take 1 - 2 minutes. Plate the gyoza bottoms up and serve while it is hot. 

You can serve it with black vinegar and ginger sauce or yuzu infused soy sauce. 

These just went into the pan.

The gyoza wrappers turned translucent after 3 minutes of steaming.

Note:
You can mix in ingredients such as, prawns, diced water chestnut and carrots (for extra crunch and sweetness), diced apples instead of cabbage (with pork - trust me, it worked) and a mixture of  fresh or dried mushrooms. 

Actually, it is a good recipe to use to clear out the fridge. :)

Enjoy making these with your family over this weekend!
 
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