What Is It And How Do I Cook It: Gyoza!

Our gyoza contained ground pork, chopped shrimp, scallions,
 ginger, dried shrimp, garlic, and chopped, steamed cabbage.

Last week's Cooking Class had gyoza on the menu. YUM!  Gyoza (aka potstickers) are often seen floating in hot and tasty noodle bowls.  Chopped ingredients are seasoned and sealed inside a dough packet, then fried and steamed.  Even the pickiest eaters enjoy gyoza!  The Japanese members of the group explained that, while gyoza are a traditional, Chinese food, adding many chopped items to the filling makes these gyoza more "Japanese." So grab a bunch of veggies, seafood, or meat, and start chopping!

Chop ingredients as small as possible.  Everything is chopped in its raw state, except for cabbage.  Steam the cabbage before chopping.  After chopping, make sure to squeeze out the excess water.

Squeeze out the water several times!  You may even want to
roll the cabbage inside a clean, kitchen towel to get it more dry.

Once all ingredients are chopped, and the cabbage is dry, mix ingredients thoroughly.  Add a little salt, pepper, and soy sauce.

If desired (and available), add a packet of Chinese seasoning.

Grab a pre-made gyoza wrapper (the ladies showed us how to make them from scratch.  I am not even going to go there. Just buy some from your local, grocery store).  Dampen the edges with water, and add a small spoonful of mixture to the middle of the wrapper.  Fold the wrapper in half. Pinch the edges together, fluting the wrapper as you go.

My sad ones are at the top left.  The pretty ones are the ones made by our
 Japanese instructors.  I think I spied someone"fixing" mine, later.  Haha.

Heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan.  Brown the gyoza on each side. Add enough water to cover just the bottom of the gyoza.  Cover the pan and steam until the water is evaporated.

Remove and serve hot, either alone or in noodle bowls!

A delicious, dipping sauce can be made with a little soy sauce, vinegar, and Chinese chili oil.  So good!

(Bonus points for a cute, sauce dish.)

Here's the chili sauce, so you know what you're looking for. Enjoy delicious, homemade gyoza!


Ganbatte!

-The Tofu Fox


Ingredients:


24 Wrapping sheets for gyoza
100g ground meat
4 leaves cabbage
Half bunch scallions
1 clove garlic
1 knob ginger root
Pinch each of salt and pepper
Dash of soy sauce
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
Any other veggies you want to toss in!


The beauty of gyoza is that almost anything goes.  Toss in almost any vegetable/meat/seafood combo.  Shrimp, pork, and beef are equally delicious!