I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who doesn’t like dumplings, particularly Japanese gyoza, or potstickers. You know the ones I’m talking about… crispy fried on bottom, silky smooth skin beautifully wrapped around a juicy savoury filling. The only problem being these 1-2 bite babies are always too easily devoured and there almost never seems to be enough to satisfy greedy bellies. In our house, I find myself making double batches and freezing half to have ready to fry up at a moments notice in case any gyoza cravings happen to arise.
I’d like to share my favourite recipe here. Keep in mind, I’m not very authentic when it comes to recipes and often end up tweaking according to my family’s preferences and what I have on hand. This little recipe is quite versatile, meaning that the veggies can easily be swapped out for your faves or for whatever you have on hand. For example, I’ve found myself with everything but napa cabbage in the fridge, so instead I used grated carrots. You could also try spinach or shiitake mushrooms. It’s a great way to sneak in extra veggies that my kids may normally be picky about. I’ve also made the filling with ground beef instead of pork, or added chopped shrimp. The resulting dumplings will not be “traditional” or “authentic” but hey, if it’s loaded with healthy ingredients and your family loves it, that beats authentic any day, in my books. 🙂
Be sure to view the short little video on how to wrap gyoza for perfect and pretty little dumplings everytime.
Pan-Fried Gyoza Recipe
Yields 40 to 50 dumplings
Ingredients:
For the filling:
3/4 lb napa cabbage leaves, chopped fine
3/4 lb ground pork
3-4 green onion stalks/scallions, chopped fine
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
For wrapping:
1 package round gyoza wrappers (about 45 per package)
small bowl of water to dip fingers
cookie sheet pan lined with parchment paper to place freshly wrapped gyoza
For pan frying:
1/3 cup water for frying each batch
1 tbsp oil for frying each batch
fry pan with lid
Directions:
For the filling:
In a large bowl combine all filling ingredients. Using fingers mix ingredients together until everything is evenly incorporated and mixture comes together in a sticky ball.
Time to wrap!
Prepare your work surface with the filling mixture, a spoon for filling the wrappers, small bowl of water, and a lined cookie tray to place freshly wrapped dumplings. Watch the video below to see how to wrap gyoza:
Once gyoza is wrapped, you may freeze the gyoza by placing the cookie tray directly in the freezer for 1-2 hours (or until frozen). Once the dumplings are solid enough not to stick together, transfer the frozen gyoza to a ziplock freezer bag and freeze for up to 2 months.
To cook:
Heat fry pan and 1 tbsp of oil on medium-high heat. Add gyoza, flat side down, in a single layer so they do not touch. Let bottoms brown for 1 minute. Pour 1/3 cup water into the pan. Immediately cover and let dumplings steam for 3 minutes (5 minutes if frozen), or until most of the water has evaporated. Remove the lid to cook off remaining water and fry for 2-3 more minutes until the bottoms have evenly browned and crisped.
Transfer to serving plate and see if you can let them cool down enough to not burn your tongue before devouring them all!
NotSoAncient Tip: Gyoza are the perfect pairing to our ramen noodles.
Special thanks to our friend Caine for the beautiful Kokedama plant you see in the background above.
