Monday, March 23, 2009

Gyoza (Mmm, Oishii!)

Who doesn't like Gyoza? I don't know, but if you don't then maybe these will change your mind.
The Filling.
4 Wombok leaves, sliced into really small pieces (about 5mm squared)
4 Spring onions, sliced bery thinly
1 garlic clove, grated finely
2 teaspoons soy sauce
3 teaspoons cornflour
Salt

Put the wombok & spring onion in a bowl with the salt (mix it all up).
Let sit for about 10 mins.
Handful by handful, squeeze the juice out of the wombok & spring onion mix (just pick it up in your hands and SQUEEZE over a sink.
Put it all in a bowl with the soy sauce, garlic & cornflour. Mix well (basically it should look like a bowl of wilted wombok thinly coated in white cornflour-y goop. Good.)

Next, grab your packet of gyoza wrappers (see photo one for the type I used).
Get a bowl of warm water - wipe a ring of water around the edge of each wrapper, put a small blob of mix in the middle, and get crimping!

Cook.
This is contentious.
Sorry for the traditionalists.

Mine are fried then steamed,
But, if you want them fried, steam them first and then fry them for a couple of minutes on a flat pan. Mmm.

I make them by putting a little oil in the bottom of a pan (sesame or olive usually). Then I put my gyoza in the pan, and heat on medium-high heat until the bottoms of the gyoza are fried and a light brown colour.

Then I ADD:
1 cup of water, with:
1 tspn soy sauce
1 tspn kecap manis
1 sliced spring onion
1 thumb sized knob of grated ginger

So you mix it all into the water first, then quickly tip this into the gyoza (there'll be a very loud SIZZLE) and quickly put the lid on.

Turn the gyoza down to a medium-low heat and cook about 10 mins until the gyoza look cooked (the wrappers should have a sheen and be very slightly translucent). If you have too much liquid, leave the lid off and cook for another minute or so.

That's it!
Yum!