Gyoza (Japanese Dumplings)

Hi there!

Since this is my first blog post, I feel like I should introduce myself. I'm Christina, 17 years old, and currently in my last year of school in London. Nice to meet you. :)

I've started baking more and more over the last year and so decided to join the Daring Bakers! (Click here for further information) And so this blog came into existence!

I have yet to recieve my first challenge as a Daring Baker, which I will post about on the 27th of March, the official reveal date.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share my experiences making gyoza last week. :) I was browsing the archive of challenges on the Daring Kitchen website, and stumbled across a recipe I've been meaning to try for a long time: gyoza (japanese dumplings). I'm a big fan of gyoza and various other dumplings and was therefore very excited to find out that they were actually quite simple to make!

The original recipe and challenge can be found here, credit goes to Jen from use real butter. If you want detailed information I recommend taking a look.

Here's my take on the whole thing:

Ingredients:

Dough:
-makes about 30 dumplings, depending on the size

250g (2 cups) of all-purpose flour
120 ml (1/2 cup) of warm water

Filling:
This is very flexible, depending on your preferences. I used:

250 g ground pork
2 carrots
3 napa cabbage leaves
2 spring onions
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1tsp maize starch

However, you can use any kind of meat or seafood, or alternatively go completely vegetarian! It really is up to you. :)

Method:

1. In a large bowl, mix the flour with half of the water and stir until completely absorbed.

2. Slowly add the remaining water and keep mixing, until it is completely incorporated into the dough.

3. Knead the dough for about half a minute. The dough should feel firm and barely sticky. If it feels very tough and dry, add a little more water, but make sure it doesn't get too sticky, or else you will have problems forming the dumplings later.

4. Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes under a wet towel (don't forget, or else the dough will dry out!)

5. While the dough rests, use a food processor to mince the vegetables. If you don't own a food processor, then just chop the vegetables into very small pieces. Make sure they're not too large, or else they will poke through the dough.

6. Mix the vegetables with the soy sauce, sesame oil and ground pork.

7. Take a small piece of dough, keeping the remaining dough underneath the wet towel. The piece should be about 1/4 the size of a golf ball, depending on how large you want your gyoza to be, and flatten it with you palm. Then, roll out the dough to form an approximately circular wrapper. Don't roll it out to thin or else the wrapper will rip.

8. Place a heaped teaspoon of filling onto the centre of the gyoza. Take care not to overfill it, or else the filling will come out the sides during cooking.

9. Fold the dough in half, pressing down the edges. Pleat the edges of the gyoza to seal the wrapper.

10. Heat a frying pan with 2 tbsp of vegetable oil.

11. When the pan is hot, place dumplings in the frying pan and heat on high for a few minutes, until the bottoms are golden and crispy.

12. Add 1/2 cup water to the pan and cover for a few minutes, to soften the dumplings and help them cook through.

13. Cook until the water has boiled away and reduce the heat slightly. Let the dumplings cook for another 2 minutes until properly golden brown.

The dumplings are best eaten fresh and hot! Hope you enjoy them as much as I did. :)