Gyozas with Homemade Gyoza Wrappers

I keep telling my sons I make a good wrapper... then I start singing Eminems "Lose Yourself" while they roll their eyes.




NOTE: This dish is really all about the homemade wrappers, but if you haven't got the time or inclination to make them, in the words of the great Ina Garten "store bought is fine."


Gyozas with Homemade Gyoza Wrappers
Makes about 50

For the Wrappers:
adapted from here
2 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup just-boiled water (more if necessary)
Potato flour for dusting

For the Filling:
adapted from here
300g ground pork
2 large cabbage leaves, blanched in boiling water for 2 minutes and refreshed in ice water, drained     well then finely chopped
3 spring onions, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon grated ginger
2 teaspoon sake
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
Good pinch fine sea salt

For the Gyoza:
Sunflower oil for frying
Sesame oil for dressing

For the Dipping Sauce:
Equal quantities of rice wine vinegar and soy sauce
Few drops of Japanese chilli oil (La-Yu), to taste

Make the Wrappers:
Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the salt and stir. Add the hot water and mix with a butter knife until the dough starts to come together. You may need a little more water. Add enough to make a smooth dough. Bring the dough together with your hands.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and leave to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes,

Once rested, unwrap the dough and cut it into about 25 small portions. Keep any dough you are not working on under a damp tea towel to keep it from drying out. Use some potato flour to dust a work surface and roll each portion into a ball. Roll each ball out into a thin circle. You can use a rolling pin to do this, or use a pasta machine as I did. Using an 8cm cookie cutter, cut a circle from the thin circle of dough, dusting each wrapper with potato flour as you go. Keep the finished wrappers under a damp tea towel as you finish them. Continue with the rest of the dough, gathering up the scraps and re-rolling to make more wrappers - you should end up with about 50 thin 8cm wrappers.

You can use the wrappers straight away or wrap them in plastic wrap and keep them in the fridge for a few days or freeze them for a couple of months for later use.

Make the Filling:
Put all the filling ingredients into a large bowl and mix together with your hands until really well combined and it starts to become sticky.

Make the Gyoza:
Take a wrapper and place it in the palm of your hand. Put a teaspoon of the filling in the centre of the wrapper. Dip a finger into some water and wet along the inner edge of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half, to completely cover the filling. You will have a half moon shape. Pleat the top edge evenly and press firmly to make sure the gyoza are completely sealed. Place them flat side down, pleated side up, on a baking sheet. Continue until you have made all the gyozas.

Heat a frying pan on medium heat. Add a tablespoon of sunflower oil. Once the oil is hot, add the gyozas flat side down. You will probably have to cook them in batches unless you have a monster frying pan. Add as many gyozas as fits comfortably in your frying pan and cook until the flat side is golden, about 2 - 3 minutes. Add 1/4 cup water to the pan and add 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Immediately clamp a lid on top. Cook for a further 2 - 3 minutes to steam the gyoza. Lift the lid and continue to cook until the water has evaporated and bottoms are golden. Remove the cooked gyozas and place them on a serving plate and continue cooking the rest of the gyozas. Serve with small bowls of dipping sauce.

Make the Dipping Sauce:
Mix the dipping sauce ingredients together in a bowl and divide between small dipping bowls.