I've been trying to figure out an easy gyoza recipe for quite a while now as living in Spain has a major downfall for me... There are few (if any) decent Japanese restaurants. You can get an okay sushi place every now and then if you're prepared to pay over the odds and travel to the outskirts of town but having a beautiful, city centre flat comes at a price... all directions leading out of the centre are uphill which doesn't bode well when I'm hungry. So.. I'd come to conclusion that if I'm craving these lovely dumplings so much then maybe I should learn how to make them.
Yuzu Manchester LUNCH MENU Gyoza served with Japanese rice, Miso soup and Garnish (£7.95)
After finding a long lost business card from my favourite Japanese place in Manchester, Yuzu, I've decided to type up the recipe that I recently used to make gyoza dumplings.
It's much easier to use dumpling wrappers bought from your local Asian supermarket but over here they're impossible to find so I've added the recipe to make them yourselves. They're not as difficult to make as you'd think... It's simple, easy and fairly quick where dumplings are concerned so here it goes.
Ingredients
Filling
380g ground pork, approx.
2-3 cloves garlic, grated or minced
1 tbsp spring onion, chopped
1 tsp oil
1 tsp crushed chilli
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp ginger, grated or minced
(optional) 2 tsp miso paste, red/dark
Dumpling wrappers
2 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup of boiling water
Ok, let's go...
First, if necessary, you need to make your gyoza wrappers...
Sift your flour into a large bowl and add the salt.
Add the boiling water, slowly, using a chopstick or spoon to stir until the mixture forms a dough ball. You might need to add a little bit more water depending so keep an eye on it's consistency.
For 1 hour, leave the dough sitting in a bowl covered with a damp cloth.
Once the hour's up, knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth (approx. 5 mins) then shape into a log. Try to make your log as cylindrical as possible, it helps create better circles when rolling out. Once rolled, cut the log into 40 slices.
Sprinkled extra dust on the slices to make sure they don't stick and you can start rolling.
Roll each piece into the size of a 3-inch circle. If possible, you can use a biscuit cutter to do this but if you don't have one, like me, then just roll a rough circle.
And that's your wrappers done. Stack them up and put them to one side whilst you prep your filling.
Add the pork, ginger, garlic, onion, oil, chilli and sugar into a large mixing bowl and mix with your hands.
Scoop the mixture into a ball, lift and throw back into the bowl. This sounds a little strange but repeating this several times tenderises the meat and gives it a softer texture.
Before you start to make your gyozas, have a small bowl of cold water ready in order to stick them shut and you can start making.
Lay a wrapper down and place a teaspoon of the mixture in the center.
Moisten fingertip and trace a line along half of the edge.
Fold the wrapper and pinch around the edge creating a pleat. You should have a pleat along the top and a flat bottomed side for frying.
Continue to place, fold and pleat until you've done all 40 ( a hard task I know) and you can start cooking.
Place the amount of gyozas you'd like into a hot frying pan with a tablespoon of oil and let them fry until the bottoms are brown.
Once browned, add a a cup of boiling water into the base of the pan and cover for about 6-8 minutes allowing the gyozas to steam.
When all of the water has evaporated then you're ready to plate them up. Serve with rice, veg and a soy, vinegar and chilli dip.
I promise you... I'm an impatient cook and I could do this so I'm sure you can! It really doesn't take as long as you'd think...
If you are out and about in Manchester and haven't been to Yuzu then you should give it a go. The lunch menu is cheap and cheerful and the food is unreal. Although, I think I should pre-warn you... it's not the biggest of places so sometimes it's worth booking.
100% worth it!
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