Gyoza(gyoza) β is a Japanese dish that consists of small dumplings or pierogi made from thin dough, filled with various fillings. The term comes from the Chinese word "jiaozi," as gyoza were adapted by the Japanese from Chinese dumplings. They are very similar in terms of preparation, serving, and appearance, however, gyoza are still recognizable due to their βclassicβ filling.Gyoza appeared in Japan after World War II, when Japanese soldiers brought the recipe for Chinese dumplings home. Since then, somewhat modified and interpreted, gyoza have become one of the symbols of Japanese cuisine. Since we had all the necessary ingredients for them, as well as two free hours (exactly how much time we spent on the entire cooking cycle, from kneading the dough to actually enjoying the finished dish), we decided to try to recreate the recipe at home and share it on our blog. What we achieved β we will tell and show further.
Time spent: about 2 hours
Difficulty: 2.5 out of 5
Cost: average
We will need
From the list of ingredients below, you can prepare 6-8 full servings of gyoza. Therefore, the proportions can be adjusted according to your preferences and the amount of ingredients.
For the dough:
400 g of high-grade wheat flour
200 ml of boiling water
3 tbsp. (not heaped) of cornstarch
a pinch of salt
For the filling:
500 g of minced pork
250 g of Beijing cabbage
3 cloves of garlic
a piece of fresh ginger root (about a teaspoon)
For the marinade of the filling:
40 ml of soy sauce
20 ml of rice vinegar
30 ml of mirin (can be replaced with sugar syrup, or this ingredient can be omitted)
1 tsp. of cornstarch
salt, black pepper to taste
For serving (optional):
soy sauce
rice vinegar
mirin
unagi sauce
green onion
mix of white and black sesame seeds
Preparation
Preparing the doughFirst, we will prepare the choux pastry, as it needs about 30 minutes to rest after kneading.Β
For gyoza, a thin and elastic choux pastry is required. It is very easy to make, no more difficult than for dumplings or pierogi. The only difference is that we added cornstarch to it. In this case, it serves several purposes:
improves the texture of the dough (it is easier to roll out to the required thickness of 1 mm, and the finished gyoza hold their shape better during molding)
prevents gyoza from sticking together during cooking
helps create a characteristic golden crust on the bottom of the gyoza during frying
absorbs excess (just excess, but not all!) moisture from the filling, which helps avoid sogginess of the dough and loss of its structure.
Sift the flour and mix it with the starch. Dissolve the salt in hot water. Make a small well in the bowl with the flour, into which we start pouring the water. Mix with a spoon or spatula until the mixture cools down and is comfortable to work with by hand. If you follow the specified proportions, the dough will practically not stick to your hands and will be completely kneaded in about 10 minutes. It will be dense, but elastic. After kneading, wrap it in cling film and send it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Π³ΠΎΡΠΎΠ²Π΅ ΡΡΡΡΠΎ
Preparing the fillingGrind the pork in a meat grinder. An alternative option is to use ready-made minced meat.Finely chop the Beijing cabbage, grate the garlic and ginger root.
Prepare the marinade: mix all the liquid ingredients, add cornstarch, salt, and pepper.In a large bowl, combine the minced meat, chopped cabbage, grated garlic, and ginger root, pour in the marinade. Mix very thoroughly until homogeneous, adding more salt if necessary.
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When the dough has rested, tear off a small piece and roll it into a circle about 1 mm thick. Using improvised materials (a mug, a glass) or a special dough cutter, make round blanks. We used a mug with a diameter of 9.5 cm. From our experience, you can make circles with a slightly smaller diameter.
Roll out all the dough, cut out circles and place the filling in the center. We put about 22 grams of filling in each future gyoza.
We start sealing the gyoza. The process is very similar to making dumplings, but to achieve the specific βdragon crest,β you need to form folds on the edges of the circle and seal them on the opposite side. And to ensure that the edges seal well β it is necessary to moisten them with water just before sealing.
After molding, we can move on to cooking. First, we will fry the gyoza until a golden crust appears on their flat side. For this, we moisten this flat part of the gyoza in oil and place it on a heated pan.Β
When we reach the desired color β add 70-100 ml of water, cover with a lid, reduce the heat, and cook until their surface becomes shiny.
Since we do not have a lid for this pan, we used a life hack β a French culinary technique cartouche: we cut a circle from parchment with a small hole in the center. This acted as a lid.
For serving, we prepare a sauce from rice vinegar, soy sauce, and mirin. We sprinkle the finished gyoza with green onions, a mix of black and white sesame seeds, and enjoy ;)Β
