THE GYOZA

The father of all gyoza

Gyoza is very popular casual dish in Japan. Iki iki Gyoza (イキイキ ギョーザ）restaurant in Utsunomiya, Tochigi prefecture in Japan has 70 different gyoza on the menu - asparagus, spinach, squash, corn, walnuts, green pepper, green onion, kimchee, shrimp, celery, natto, cheese, fruits, chocolate, miso, mochi, goya, okra, curry, sausage, chicken, plum with shiso, yogurt, wasabi, garlic, egg, spring vegetable, mushroom, liver, crab, beans, salmon, scallop, cod roe and more (I just couldn’t remember all 70 of them). Wow! That will take me forever to decide except for the chocolate gyoza. I myself have several gyoza recipes and it is easy to improvise and make your own. I made the Originator (元祖） gyoza for this post, very basic one. If you master this recipe, you are free to add something or change to make your original. but just don’t get carried away. I don’t think just wrapping something in a gyoza skin makes it a gyoza. I just like the simpleness of  flavor that this gyoza brings, no fuss, no frills. I really hope you agree.

Make home made gyoza skin

Skip this process,if you are using store bought gyoza skin. I usually do. Though time consuming, homemade ones have a nostalgic flavor that I like.

• All purpose flour 300g (If you have high gluten flour use 180g of this with 120g of regular flour)
• Very hot water 175 ml

1. Put flour in medium bowl
2. Pour very hot water at once into bowl, stir quickly with a wooden spoon
3. With hand, quickly try make into a ball- it’s still dry and crumbly at this stage.
4. Sprinkle a little bit of flour and put dough on it and push the dough with your palm  5 to 6 times- do this as fast as possible.
5. Tear the dough up into small pieces so that dough won’t start to cook. Let cool for 1-2 minutes.
6. Gather the small pieces into one ball again then knead dough pushing with your palm the folding the dough toward you for 5 to 6 times, turn the dough quarter turn each time.
7. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.
8. Knead the dough by using your palm to push away and fold toward you for 8 to 10 times.
9. Wrap your dough with plastic wrap and let rest for another 30 minutes.
10. Cut dough in a half and keep half in wrap until ready. Roll the dough by hand and make a 15 inch snake (remember Garry Larsen comic? This is an easy creation.)
11. Cut snake in 15 pieces (15g is ideal weight- if you have a scale, weigh it. So that you have sense of how much to cut each piece)
12. Turn the cut side up then push down with your palm to flatten.
13. Put all pieces in the plastic bag so that they wont’ dry out. Do the same process for other half of dough.
14. Using the wooden dowel or rolling pin, stretch each round of dough to about 4 inch round. The center is bit thicker than the outer edge.

Filling- Japanese call this an（あん）

• Ground pork 200g
• Cabbage leaf 180g minced
• Nira (Garlic green onion)60g minced
• Long green onion about 4 inches minced- I used white part
• Ginger 15g minced
• Garlic 2-3 cloves grated

Seasoning

• Green onion oil (ねぎ油）* or regular oil  2 tablespoons
• Soy sauce 2 tablespoons
• Sake  2 tablespoons
• Sugar 1 tablespoon
• Sesame oil 1 tablespoon
• Salt 1 teaspoon
• White pepper 1/2 teaspoon

1. In the bowl, put ground pork, long green onion, ginger and garlic and mix well
2. Put all the seasonings in and knead for 2 to 3 minutes
3. Add the cabbage and nira and mix lightly
4. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour

Assembly

1. Hold the gyoza skin in your palm and place 1 tablespoon of filling in the center
2. Fold in half and gather just the top, folding into pleats, starting at one end and working your way to the other
3. Pinch the sides together to seal

If you use store-bought gyoza skins like these, you’ll need to wet the seam to get a good seal.

Homemade on the left. Don’t you think it looks more delicious?

Cooking

1. Heat the frying pan over medium high heat
2. Put sesame oil in a small bowl
3. Dip the gyoza in the sesame oil
4. Place upright in pan
5. Cook until the bottoms are browned
6. Add 1/4 cup of water, cover with a lid and steam until the water evaporates
7. Remove lid and cook until bottom is crispy

* Green onion oil (optional)

Ingredients

• Lard 250 g
• Long green onion (green parts only) 2 to 3 cut into 3 inch lengths
• Onion 1/2 of a medium size
• Ginger skin 30 g

Put everything in a skillet and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes. Strain and keep in a jar at room temperature. You can use in fried rice as well.

Dipping Sauces

There are many kinds of sauces that you can use with gyoza. Even store bought, ready made ones. Here are a few of the ones I like.

Balsamic vinegar, noodle dipping sauce (straight) and parsley

Soy sauce, vinegar, layu, long green onion white parts minced and mustard (optional)

Soy sauce, vinegar and kochijan

You can cook gyoza in different ways as well. Steamed, fried, deep fried and boiled are other options. I like them all. I have had many “gyoza parties” where everyone brings their favorites and we get to try various kinds. Let me know what your favorite is.

Pork Belly Buns

kakuni manjyu 角煮まんじゅう

Nagasaki, where I grew up, is influenced by many different cultures. Because Nagasaki was the first in Japan to open up for imports from foreign countries and allow missionaries to spread Christianity, it made this place so unique and rich in history. The culinary tastes are also different than other cities in Japan. Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and other influences are still present. The people there took all those and somehow melded them to create their own original style. I think the most famous there is Nagasaki chanpon （長崎ちゃんぽん）rich pork noodle soup with lots of vegetables and seafood – sort of a ramen on steriods. Kasutera is very popular sweet in Japan. Story is that one of Dutch missionary made for investigator but I ‘m not for sure because 1500’s in Japan didn’t have oven so how someone could make kasutera without it. And this pork belly buns originated from Chinese dim sum is one of my favorite. If you go to the city of Nagasaki, I recommend to stop by Nagasaki  Butaman Momotaro (長崎ぶたまん桃太呂）Their pork bun is small but tasty and less than $1 for one. They are famous for gyoza also.

Filling

First you make pork belly filling (preferably make it the night before). This is pretty much the same as I posted before in Pressure Cooker Pork Belly but make the flavor a bit richer and the sauce thicker.

• Pork belly 800g-cut in chunk
• Sake 2 cups
• Water 1 cup
• Long green onion- use green part only
• Ginger root 80g-skin and slice
• Dark brown sugar 1/3 cup
• Soy sauce 1/4 cup

1. In a pressure cooker, brown pork belly
2. Pour sake, water,green onion and ginger and pressure cook on high for 50 minutes ( if using regular pan, make sure meat is submerged. Add more water if not. Cook on medium high for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Turn off heat and let it cool.)
3. After meat is cool, put dark brown sugar and soy sauce then cook until cooking juice reduced by half over medium heat.
4. Dissolve 2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch in about 1/4 cup of water then pour in the pan to thicken the juice.

Dough

• 2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup whole milk, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoon oil
• 3-4 tablespoon water

1. Put everything in bread maker and knead for 10 minutes. Shape into a ball and let it rest for 1 hour.
2. Cut parchment paper in 12 2-1/2 inch square put it aside
3. Lightly flour a work surface. Roll the dough into a 16 inch long log. Cut  the log into 12 equal pieces and make balls from each piece. Cover the dough with damp cloth until ready so it won’t dry out. Any longer than 2 hours and it dries out too much.
4. Working with one piece at a time, shape the dough ball into a cup-don’t stretch too thin or it will break. Hold the dough in one hand and carefully spoon about 1 tablespoon of pork belly with some juice into the center.
5. Gather the edges of the dough, twist the dough and seal at the top.
6. Place seam side up on the prepared parchment paper.
7. Bring 4 cups of water in wok or big pan to a boil over high heat.
8. Put the balls in a bamboo steamers, spacing the bun at least 2 inches apart. I have a double-decker bamboo steamer so I placed 6 in each. Stack the steamer on top of each other and cover.
9. Set the stacked steamers over the boiling water and steam the buns about 15 to 20 minutes
10. Serve with Japanese mustard and soy sauce.

Nagasaki has many great restaurants and places to see. I hope you visit if you get a chance.

Japanese New Year’s Symbol Meals

Osechi ryori (おせち料理）

I never liked to eat osechi ryori. My late mother prepared things a few days before the New Years and forced us to eat it the first three days of the new year. She would say that the use of ‘fire’ for those first three days was bad luck so she would cook absolutely the minimum. My father in other hand, would order my mother to warm up his sake and make some snacks for sake (酒のつまみ）all the time. He really knew how to irritate my mother.  My brothers and I had to eat those osech ryori cold and the only thing warm was mochi soup (雑煮) in the morning. We could hardly wait for those days to be over.

I really don’t know what posessed me to cook osechi ryori but I was intrigued by the process of cooking and the symbolism of each ingredients. The Japanese food market where I purchased the ingredients were full of people and osech ryori items were way over priced. I started questioning my motives; why I’m doing this?, is it worth my time and money? That thinking came at the end of shopping and my cart was full. It seems to me that to put everything back was too much of a hassle. I pushed the cart straight to cashier. I could have abandoned it yet I never had the courage to walk away… I should have.

black beans (kuromame 黒豆) – live healthy

Herring roe (kazunoko 数の子) – great descendants

Sardine (tazukuri 田作り) – good rice harvest

Seaweed (konbu 昆布) – joy

Burdock root (gobo ごぼう) – strong foundation

Taro (sato imo 里いも) – have lots of children 

Pink and red fishcake (kamaboko かまぼこ) – good luck colors. Japanese use these colors in celebrations.

Rolled sweet egg (datemaki 伊達巻き) – gorgeous

Shrimp (ebi 海老) – long life

Lotus root (renkon 蓮根) – bright future

Cooked chestnuts (kurikinton 栗金団) – good fortune

After all this I still don’t like it very much. Probably this is the last time I’ll make it.

And a small pleasure to end the day: marshmallow soba (buckwheat) tea

Hope you had a Happy New Year! And that your joy of cooking will continue.