Gyoza

My mom and sister Kristen (my partner in this blog and author of the past three posts) came over Friday night for some catching up, and to make an old favorite meal.  If you've ever been to a Japanese restaurant, I'm sure you've had gyoza as an appetizer, but growing up we'd make a huge pot of sticky white rice and eat gyoza as a meal.  My mom's gyoza are particularly good - her recipe comes from my Japanese grandmother, her mother-in-law. 

Hand-folding the little pork dumplings with my sister while my mom was at the stove was nostalgic of those days growing up in Seattle when all the kids in the neighborhood would come over for gyozas.  Or gi-bi-OH-zees as they'd call them.  But unlike then, this time included an incredible amount of wine. 

Ingredients
We eye-ball it, but here's my estimate.

1-lb ground pork
1/2 head of cabbage, chopped
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
salt
pepper
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce, plus more for dipping
3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
2 packages gyoza wrappers
oil for cooking (sesame, peanut, or vegetable)
white rice
water

Get your white rice going in your rice cooker, according to package instructions.  Mix ground pork, cabbage, green onions, salt, pepper, sesame oil, soy, and garlic.  This is your gyoza filling.  Dip your finger in water and outline the outer side of one gyoza wrap.  This will make it stick when you fold it.  Place a small amount of the pork filling in the center of the wrap and seal the wet edges together, pinching closed.  Be careful not to overfill so they don't burst open while cooking.  And there you have it, one gyoza ready to be cooked.  Repeat until your run out of wraps or filling. 

To cook, heat oil in a pan on med-high heat.  Put in 4-5 gyoza, spaced so they don't touch.  The gyoza should sizzle when they hit the pan.  Cook about 1-2 minutes on each side, until golden brown.  Then add enough hot water to cover the bottom of the pan (but not enough to cover the gyoza). Cover, reduce heat, and steam until water is gone.  It'll take quite a few batches until all of your gyoza are done, so it's a good idea to keep a few in the kitchen for yourself if everyone else is going to dig in. 

Serve with white rice and soy sauce for dipping.  You can also add a little sesame oil or rice wine vinegar to the soy sauce to change the flavor, but we typically just stick to loy sodium soy. 

Chefs - Kristen and Mom