Japanese pot stickers

So, as you can see, I'm still postponing the stupid Japan-post. I wonder if I'll ever get it posted? Let's hope so, even for my own sake!!

Anyhow, I like reading food blogs. There's just that something when you see someone being truly passionate about food. I always want to try things I read about but somehow never get around to actually making those delicious things. I could never have a food blog of my own 'cos I suck at writing consistently (no shit Sherlock!) but I thought I'd share my gyoza-fest with you :))

Some of you might be familiar with gyoza, but to those who aren't, it's just how Japanese call dumplings (or jiaozi in Chinese), those little pieces of heaven filled with various kinds of things, this time in my case minced meat, cabbage, spring onion, ginger, garlic and seasoning). Apparently people buy the wrappers from stores (in Helsinki you can find them in various Asian markets like TokyoKan or Asian Supermarket in Hakaniemi, for around 3€/50pcs I guess?) but as I find it ridicilous going all that way for dumpling wrappers, I make them myself. I found the perfect recipe a while ago but I thought it needed some oil in it, so here's my (highly edited :___D) recipe for the wrappers.

Dough
5 dl all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons salt
1,5 dl boiling water
a dash of oil (this was not in the original recipe but I think it makes the dough easier to handle while your cutting the wrappers)

Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl with chopsticks (or a fork but I use chopsticks 'cos the dough kinda sticks to whatever you're mixing it with and chopsticks are "easier" to clean). I find it easier to add the oil to the water so all the wet ingredients are together, then pour the mixture into the bowl, little by little, all the while mixing everything together. After all the water is in, it should form a ball-like fellow, you can scrape the loose flour from the bottom of the bowl and form a ball using your hands (but be careful, it's hot!). Put the ball back into the bowl and let it rest under a damp cloth for an hour.

Meanwhile you can prepare your filling and dip. I've only made these with minced meat, but I saw a wonderfully delicious sounding (and looking) post where someone had used shrimp, misopaste, ground pork and leek, have to try that some time! Of course you can also make a vegetarian dish but using things like cabbage, miso, spinach, grated carrot etc., basically anything you'd like or happen to have in your fridge!

Dip
about 1 dl soy (of your choice, preferably thicker than your regular Kikkoman)
2-3 gloves of garlic chopped roughly
thumb-sized piece of ginger chopped roughly
(dilute the soy with a splash of water if the flavor is too strong)

Just mix all of these together in a small cup (big enough to dip your dumplings). Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the frigde so the flavours blend.
Also you can just use your sweet chili sauce, as it is or softened with some water. Gives a nice kick.
Overall the dip is what makes the dumplings. It gives the flavor so don't be afraid to try out different versions. You can also try ready-made gyoza sauce (at least TokyoKan should have some). I haven't bought any myself but I'm intrigued so I'll be sure to try some when I have the chance!

spring onion, soy, meat, garlic, ginger and cabbage.

Filling (again, you can use whatever you have in the fridge, this is just what I used this time)
400g minced meat
1/4th of a shredded cabbage 
handful of spring onions (or leek etc.)

2 gloves of garlic chopped roughly
thumb-sized piece of ginger chopped roughly
sweet chilli sauce
leftover (red) bell pepper

Put the meat in a mixing bowl and roughly tear it apart. Shred the cabbage and bell pepper, chop garlic and ginger and mix everything together. Season with the chilli sauce (and other seasoning if you want). Cover and put in the frigde. Let it rest until you need it again.


Now your dough should be right about done. Since you can't let it dry out, I made three pieces of the dough and put two under the cloth. Cover your work area with flour so the dough won't stick (it will, I tell you). Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a thin layer (2-3mm), cut round pieces (about ⌀9cm) with a cookie cutter or similar. Pile the wrappers on a cutting board etc. that you have dusted with flour. You can pile the wrappers on top of each other but remember to dust them with more flour so they won't stick together. Cover with a cloth when you're working the rest of your dough. Using the recipe above you should have around 40 wrappers.

finished wrappers, filling and water in a bowl.

Now on to the fun stuff; le filling. It might be fun to have someone to help you with since it's a wee bit boring to on your own. Take a skin and place it on your left palm. Use your right index finger and dip it the water. Trace half of the edge of the skinwith water and place a dollop of filling in the center of the wrapper. Fold the skin over the filling and kind of plead the edges together. I know it sounds ridiculous but it makes a cute end result. Make sure the edges are properly sealed so water won't seep in when you fry/steam these babies.
(BTW, if you have leftover wrappers after your out of the filling, you can wrap them in plastic wrap and use next time. I haven't done it so i can't give you any estimate how long it might last though :___D)

finished product waiting to be thrown on the pan. Left rows are done by me, right ones by Eve.

 So as you can see, they don't have to be perfect :)) Sorry there's no pic for the folding process, I'm 100% sure I did take one but maybe it's just in my head. Oh well~

Add a generous amount of oil on your pan and let it heat up. Carefully lay your dumplings on the pan, don't burn yourself! You should fry them until the bottoms are golden brown (or a little more, don't be afraid you'll burn 'em, they'll taste equally good anyway). Add about 1,5dl of water on the pan so that it covers the dumplings. Cover the pan and let 'em steam!

fellows on the pan.

They'll take about...3-5 minutes? to cook. Until the water is gone. You can check them around 3 minutes and carefully move 'em around so they won't burn (too much).

boiling away.

Serve while steaming hot. With rice or without. Dip the end in the soy, bite in half and dip the rest of it while scooping in bits of pieces of the ginger and garlic. Using sweet chili sauce as a dip really opened my eyes, so good!! If you have leftover gyoza, just wrap it in foil or pack it in Tupperware and stick it in the fridge. I'm pretty sure you'll find them magically gone in the next few hours!

I guess that's it. If you happen to make these after reading this entry, i would really much like to know how you liked them! I've made them for a few friends (one didn't really like the soydip but she seemed to enjoy dipping them in ketchup :O) and I also made a glutein-free versions when visiting Parents once (Dad has celiac/coeliac disease). The dough was like hell to work with but he seemed to like 'em so I can't complain :))