Pork Gyoza

When I go to a Japanese restaurant, I always look for gyoza in the menu. Some places have really good homemade gyoza, but some other just use pre-made frozen gyoza. In that case, it is better just to make your own gyoza. Since making gyoza is a bit time-consuming, I tried to make many at one time. The leftover can be stored in the freezer for later. These little gyoza had crispy skins and juicy fillings. The garlic chives gave the gyoza a strong rich flavors and the cabbage balanced it out. When I made the gyoza, Bryan and I would only ate them for dinner. Pile and pile of gyoza!

Pork Gyoza (Adapted from Cooking With Dog video)

About 70 gyoza

Ingredients:

–   70 gyoza wrappers

–   ¾ lb ground pork

–   10 ounce cabbage (finely chopped)

–   5 ounce onion (finely chopped)

–   3 ounce Nira (garlic chives) (finely chopped)

–   1 teaspoon sesame oil

–   water

–   flour (for dusting)

Marinade for pork:

–   3 tablespoons corn starch

–   2 ½ tablespoon soy sauce

–   1 ½ tablespoon oyster sauce

–   1 ½ tablespoon sesame oil

–   3 teaspoons garlic (grated)

–   1 ½ teaspoon ginger (grated)

–   1 ½ teaspoon sugar

–   pinch of white pepper

–   1 tablespoon Sake (optional)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix the ground pork with hand until the meat looks a bit sticky. Add the marinade to the pork. Mix well until sticky. Add the cabbage, onion and nira. Combine. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
2. Sprinkle some flour over two baking sheets. Set aside.
3. Prepare a bowl of water.
4. To wrap a gyoza, put a gyoza wrapper on the palm of your hand. Place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the middle of the wrapper. Dip one of your fingers into the water and wet the edge of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half. Start making a few folds on one side of the gyoza. Press tightly against the other side of the wrapper to seal. Place the gyoza on the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with the rest of the gyoza wrappers.
5. When all the gyoza are wrapped, place the two baking sheets into the freezer. Let them sit for half an hour or until the gyoza are frozen. Take them out and transfer them to a plastic bag. Keep them in the freezer until ready to use.
6. In a large pan over medium heat, add 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Spread the oil over the pan. Place about 20 gyoza in the pan and make sure they don’t touch each other. Cook for 2 – 3 minutes until the bottom of the gyoza start to turn golden brown. Add enough water to cover the gyoza half way up. Cover with a lid, and cook for 4 – 5 minutes until the water has evaporated. Cook uncover for 2 – 4 minutes. When the bottom of the pan starts to turn brown. Take out the gyoza with a hard spatula and transfer to a plate. Serve immediately with gyoza dipping sauce.

Tips:

1. If you want to cook the gyoza right away after wrapping, you can skip the freezer part.
2. 30 – 35 gyoza is about the serving size for 2 people for dinner.
3. You can find gyoza wrappers, nira, and gyoza dipping sauce in Japanese supermarket.

Source: Read