Hitoshi took on the challenge of making gyoza from almost scratch. The “almost” comes from using pre-made wrappers. Next time, the wrappers will be homemade.
As observer and second-half photographer, making gyoza didn’t seem difficult. Wasn’t it just chopping, mixing, and wrapping filling into little parcels? True, but it took Hitoshi a solid, uninterrupted hour to make 35 gyoza.
The effort was confirmed sifting through the photos. 13 steps appeared! The only missing ones were of the wrapping. It was too messy and cumbersome for Hitoshi to keep washing his hands to take a photo. This post includes the highlights.
Ingredients
On the left: sake (in a Chinese cooking wine bottle), sesame oil, Japanese soy sauce, salt, garlic paste, miso paste
On the right: ground pork, garlic chives, Chinese cabbage, wrappers
chopped nira aka Chinese or garlic chives and chopped Chinese cabbage
adding ginger paste, garlic paste and miso paste
adding ground pork – yum!
The next step is mixing in sake, sesame oil, Japanese soy sauce and salt.
all wrapped up and ready to cook
gyoza in a boiling bath before draining and adding oil to fry them
look at those wings!
cooked gyoza, front and back – delish!
a mix of seasoned vinegar, chili oil and Japanese soy sauce is the dip for our fresh gyoza
first bite!
If you read the post on cooking gyoza on an electric stove, the disappointment was failing to produce “wings” or “skin”. These are the delectable, crackly bits that stick to the bottom of the pan. Making gyoza from scratch got us our first skin in Canada! We will share the trick in an upcoming post.
Have you made gyoza from scratch? Was the taste spectacular?!
Oh man… I’m getting hungry just looking at these 🙂
Yay! Well, get that Ryosuke to make you some to celebrate getting your book out the door. 😀
I love gyoza, but I’ve never even thought about making them from scratch. So impressed! They look really tasty:)
They were! My first “cultural experience” in Japan was making gyoza from scratch. I just about ran screaming from the kitchen when I saw the mountain of fillings in their whole form alongside cutting boards and a big knife. I am not a fan of chopping! Then there’s the folding. *sigh* I’m getting better though after helping my MIL. 😀 If you’ve got time and patience, it isn’t difficult.
One of my fav flavors from Asia, yummzz!
I agree! I also like the different varieties, like shiso, garlic (yummmmmm), and kimchi. Do you have a favorite?
Yeah, sweet and sour (honey+soya) is something I’ll love to go for as far as Asian flavors are concerned.
Mmmm… good combo. I love the garlic/sesame/chili combo in the Thai food I ate in Isan. In Japanese, I love citrus and spice and sesame.
Yeah, yummy Asian flavors…
I love Chinese and Indian cuisine ❤ ❤
They look so good! Compliments to the chef 😉
I’ll pass it along. 😀 Hitoshi is so good at chopping. Me? I’d use the food processor. H is just as fast, which is mind boggling. And he has all his fingers!
I always order this because it is so similar to our momo. Will try this at home, thanks 🙂
Interesting! Have you written about momo? I’d love to learn more! By the way, momo in Japanese is peach!
Yes I have. have a look and you will feel the same similarities 🙂
http://nepaliaustralian.com/2011/12/08/momo/
I have seen a Japanese store in Sydney called momo, now I know the meaning, Thanks.
Thanks for the link! Momo looks so delicious and I love the idea of eating it with the tomato sauce. I’m going to show hubby your recipe.
Momo also means thigh, like chicken thighs as one possibility, but I’m pretty sure the store is using the fruit meaning! 😀