der Klang von Zuckerwatte

Wrap, hide, fry, steam, eat! Gyōza

Gyouza

Wrapping, wrapping, wrapping. It almost feels a bit like Christmas already. Small, precious treasures are lovingly cloaked, lashed, sealed and piled up, almost like on a table for presents. The eyes are sparkling in anticipation of things to come, the heart is beating, the soul is singing… the stomach is rumbling. Isn’t making noodles a delight? I always calm down in my noodle sessions, it’s almost like meditating, just way better: I can handle food here! Cabbage wants to be chopped with care, then gently mixed with minced meat and spices to finally nuzzle into gauzy slices of silky noodle dough, in which it will be fried and steamed into glorious perfection. 

Gyouza

Yes, making filled noodles is always a fun thing to do and a process which is better made at 200%, so all the effort pays for not just one… but a few portions and/or meals at once. And it will feel like something special then. Like a feast. Something precious. And something you should definitely enjoy in company. Because it is always good to have people around, especially when it comes to enjoying life. The lovely Julia also prefers to cook and eat in company and so we will have a double portion of recipes for you today. Both traditional, delicious and best enjoyed with at least one more person at your side. Julia has a recipe for vegetarian Swabian Maultaschen for you today and I will be cooking Japanese again to make you some traditional gyōza. I hope you enjoy them!

Gyouza

Yaki Gyōza – Fried, Traditional Japanese Dumplings with Cabbage, Minced Pork and Ginger

Ingredients for 3-4 portions

Gyōza dough*:

  • 250 g wheat flour
  • 125 ml water
  • 1 tsp salt

Gyōza filling:

  • 1 piece of ginger (the size of a peanut)
  • 300 g cabbage
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 300 g minced pork
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce

For cooking:

  • some vegetable oil for frying (like peanut oil for example)
  • water

Dip:

  • 20 ml soy sauce
  • 20 ml rice vinegar
  • a few drops of chili oil

*You could also buy gyōza dough instead of making it from scratch. Check out the freezers in the Asian supermarkets; you will probably find some packages there. 

Combine the ingredients for the dough in a bowl and knead until you have a very smooth and firm dough. Knead for 5 more minutes (to make the dough more elastic), wrap it in cling foil and let it rest for 1 hour. Knead again and now roll it out very thinly. If you use a pasta machine for this you will want to roll it out with the finest adjustment. Cut out circles (I used a glass with a 4 cm radius). Combine leftovers to another ball of dough and roll out again until you have no dough left. 

To prepare the filling peel the ginger and chop it finely. Remove the stalk from the cabbage and chop the rest finely, too. If you have a kitchen processor, you can perfectly use it for this; it will save you quite an amount of time. Mix the cabbage with the salt and let it just rest for a couple of minutes. Then, using your hands, press out the excessive water, then mix the cabbage with the other ingredients.

Place 1-2 tsp of the filling in the middle of one slice of dough, apply a little both of water on the edges of the dough and wrap it in the typical gyōza way. This video shows it quite well if you don’t know how to do it. It will take a few gyōzas to get it right, but it is quite easier than it may look at first, so don’t give up! Make as much gyōza until you are out of dough and/or filling. If you still have some filling left, you can just fry it later (you can store it in the fridge for about a day) or freeze it. Remaining dough slices can be dried to be cooked later.

Put a pan on medium heat. Add 1 tbsp of oil and plave one layer on gyōza in it. Fry them for about 5 minutes without moving them, they should just be fried on the side they are standing on. Add 50 ml of water to the pan and cover it with a lid. Steam the gyōza for 5 more minutes. Cook the remaining gyōza in the same way. Don’t crowd them in more than one layer in the pan; you’ll have to cook them in batches anyway.

Mix the ingredients for the dip and serve the gyōza with it. Enjoy!

And if you want to check out Julia’s Maultaschen recipe, please visit her lovely blog here.

Gyouza

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