One of the earliest memories I have of my Baba is helping her make homemade gyoza. I remember thinking how fun it was folding the skins together and would fight my sister for a turn. Well, this time I got to do every step, and it was just as fun as I remembered.
Gyoza is by far one of my favorite Japanese dishes, and they are 100% better homemade. Similar to Chinese Jiaozi, gyoza has a juicy pork filling and are normally pan-fried for a crunchy outside, making them completely irresistible.
Homemade Gyoza Skins
Ingredients
Instructions
Pour the 1 1/2 cup of flour into bowl. Gradually mix in water with the flour.
Mix with hands until dough is a good consistency, then cover the bowl and let sit for 30 minutes.
While the dough is sitting, it’s a good time to mix up the gyoza filling.
#SpoonTip: If you can’t find already made gyoza skins and don’t want to make your own, wonton wrappers will work fine. Just make sure to cut them into circles!
Gyoza Filling
Ingredients
Instructions
Put pork into a mixing bowl. Knead pork with hands until it has a gooey texture.
Add in the soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and oyster sauce. Mix together with hands thoroughly.
Chop up the cabbage and green onions into small pieces, then pour into the pork along with the grated garlic and grated ginger and mix.
Cover the bowl and let the pork sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Once the dough has sat for 30 minutes, it is time to start rolling out the dough. For gyoza, the skins have to be round, so anything like a cup or a lid will do if there are no cookie cutters handy.
#SpoonTip: Thinner skins are better so the dough to filling ratio is even.
Creating the Gyozas
Ingredients
Instructions
Take a spoonful of the gyoza filling, and place it in the middle of the gyoza skin. Make sure to not overfill the dough.
Wet one half of the ridge of the gyoza skin with fingertip. Not too much, just a little.
Fold the gyoza skin in half and pleat one side.
Repeat steps 1-3 for each gyoza. Once they are finished, it’s time to start cooking. These gyoza are pan-fried, so grab a pan, and turn the stove on high. Cover the bottom of the pan with a light layer of sesame oil.
Place the gyoza in the pan, and let them fry until the bottoms are a nice brown.
Once the bottoms are brown, pour water into the pan until the gyoza are about half covered. Put a lid on the pan, and let the tops of the gyoza steam.
Once the water has evaporated, the gyoza are done and ready to eat! Once they have cooled, dip them in soy sauce mixed with rice vinegar and a few drops of chili oil, and enjoy!