Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Hubby made gyoza

My hubby made gyoza for dinner last Sunday (April 12) and it was delicious. Although we have eaten gyoza at restaurants innumerable times, somehow until now I never learnt how to make it at home. So hubby wanted to teach me one more new and simple food recipe to add to my list of growing Japanese recipes.

Gyoza or pot sticker is a popular dumpling in Japanese cuisine. Gyoza originated in China and it is said to have been introduced to Japan in late 17th century. In fact, I still remember that the first time I saw gyoza, its shape reminded of an Indian sweet called gujiya. Gyoza typically consists of ground meat and vegetable filling wrapped into a thinly rolled piece of dough, which is then sealed by pressing the edges together. There are various kinds of fillings for gyoza. The most popular fillings are ground pork, cabbage, and Chinese chives (nira). Gyoza can be cooked in various ways. Sui-gyoza (boiled) is very soft and can be eaten hot or cold. Mushi-gyoza (steamed) is also soft and is eaten hot. Age-gyoza (deep-fried) is considered a finger food. The most common gyoza is yaki-gyoza (pan-fried), in which the dumpling is first fried on one flat side, creating a crispy brown and crunchy skin. Then, water is added and the pan is sealed with a lid until the upper part of the gyoza is steamed. Hubby made yaki-gyoza.

Hubby used Chinese cabbage (hakusai), nira chives, and ground pork for making the gyoza filling. He cut the hakusai and nira into very small pieces. The amount of these two ingredients should be roughly equal to the amount of ground pork. He then mixed the cut hakusai, nira, and ground pork all together. We can add small pieces of naga-negi (Japanese leek), ginger, and garlic along with some salt, pepper, soy-sauce, sake, and sesame oil also. However, hubby skipped adding all these ingredients as he wanted to make gyoza with a very simple and natural taste.
Gyoza filling


We bought premade gyoza dough wrapper pieces, which are usually available in any grocery store here in Japan. So we could avoid the time consuming and difficult part of making of the gyoza dough.
Hubby holding a gyoza dough wrapper


Hubby put about one table spoon of the filling onto a piece of dough wrapper.
Gyoza filling on a dough wrapper


Then the edge of the dough was moistened with water. However, we have to moisten only a semicircle, and not all the way round. Next, the filling was wrapped up. While closing the gyoza, hubby folded the edge about 5-6 times. He then shaped the gyoza a bit.
Wrapping up the gyoza filling


Hubby made many such gyozas.
Hubby posing while making gyoza

Many wrapped up gyozas


After this, hubby placed the gyozas in a flat-bottomed prying pan with one table spoon oil. He fried the gyozas a little bit until the gyoza bottom was brownish, then added water so that about one third of the gyoza height was immersed in the water. After covering the pan with a lid, the gyozas were allowed to cook until all the water had vaporized.
Frying gyozas in one table spoon of oil

Hubby added water into the pan and then posed for the photo while covering the pan with a lid

Gyozas cooking

Gyozas are cooked as all the water has vaporized


Then, hubby removed the gyoza from the heat and arranged them in a plate. Gyozas were ready to be eaten. Gyoza dumplings are served with a dipping sauce. Usually same amount of soy-sauce and vinegar are mixed together along with a small amount of chili pepper-flavored sesame oil. This time we used only soy-sauce as the dipping sauce.
Gyoza dumplings with dipping sauce


Hot gyoza pieces are eaten after dipping them in the dipping sauce.
Hubby eating gyoza


Hubby and I enjoyed our dinner of gyoza and rice. The gyoza dumplings were really delicious. Thanks hubby for teaching me a simple recipe of gyoza.

8 comments:

Anima said...

mmmm...I love gyoza too.
I used to make gyoza very often when I was in Japan. Can buy ingredients in England as well, so I think I will make them this week. Thanks for reminding me of nice Japanese dish:)
Your handsome hubby seems to be enjoying making gyoza. Nice pics!

Alison said...

Mmmmm, I love gyoza too! Recently, I had a gyoza making lesson from a friend! Must make some very soon, I think!

Manisha Kundu-Nagata said...

Hi Anima, yeah gyozas are tatsy. Have a nice time making gyozas in England.

My hubby enjoyed showing me how to make gyoza... Though, I am not sure I can shape the gyozas properly :)

Manisha Kundu-Nagata said...

Thanks Alison for your comment. Hope you make delicious gyozas.

I love your food blog very much. Already used two of your recipes!

Sonal said...

Hi Manisha, I stumbled upon your blog a few weeks ago and enjoyed reading about Japan and your life there. What made me stop in my tracks was how do you know "Subbi" and "Gowri"? They are my cousins!

Thanks,
Sonal

Manisha Kundu-Nagata said...

Thanks sonal for your comment. I am really happy that you enjoyed reading about Japan in my blog. Please visit my blog often :)

And the world is very small indeed!! Subbi was my classmate while doing M.Sc. in Pune University. It has been a looong time since then. Last year I got reconnected with him after almost 18 years! Thanks to social networking sites. I know Gowri through Subbi.

It is nice knowing you. And thanks for visiting my blog.

Unknown said...

I am going try this receipe too with local ingredients and prawn. Thanks for sharing for sharing this.

Manisha Kundu-Nagata said...

Thanks for your comment Runa. I am sorry that I missed seeing your comment until today.

Did you try making gyoza with prawns? Hope you enjoyed making them and they tasted good.