Gyoza – with Nappa Cabbage
Gyoza （餃子） or Japanese dumplings is very popular in Japan. It is often served at ramen restaurants or diners. Also you can find frozen ones or cooked ones at grocery stores or even at convenience stores. Often served as a batch of six or eight, we usually enjoy gyoza as a part of meal or a main meal alone. They come in carb, vegetables and protein in one little dumpling, so it could be a complete meal.
It may look difficult to make Gyoza, but the method is pretty simple once you learn how to do it. Actually, gyoza was one of the things I learned how to cook in my early stage of my cooking journey.
They also taste better when you cook it and eat it with family or friends. Since it’s easy to make, I used to throw a gyoza party when I was younger. When we get together, the menu was either nabe or gyoza. Making gyoza by itself is a fun activity. I remember that we were chatting and laughing a lot while making gyoza. Good memories.
This time I used nappa cabbage (白菜 hakusai) and green onion, but cabbage or garlic chives can be substituted for them. Also sometimes I use shrimp instead of pork, but when I do that, I make it half shrimp and half ground pork. You can experiment it with different ingredients and create your own favorite gyoza!
| Prep Time | 1 hour |
| Cook Time | 30 minutes |
| Servings |
people
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- 200 g ground pork
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 tbsp minced ginger
- 1 tbsp minced garlic (optional)
- 1 tbsp white wine or sake
- 200 g Chinese cabbage
- 1/2 cup green onion (or garlic chive)
- 30 dumpling wrappers round type
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp plain flour
- sesame oil
Ingredients
Filling A
Filling B
Other
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- Chop finely nappa cabbage. You can use a food processor if you want.
- Sprinkle salt on the nappa cabbage in the bowl, mix them lightly, and let them sit for about 10 minutes. Squeeze water out of the nappa cabbage with a kitchen clothe or kitchen towel.
- Put all the ingredients of Filling A in a big bowl and mix them until they become paste like. It will take at least a few minutes.
- Add Filling B ingredients into the bowl and mix all well. If you have time, let it sit in the fridge for 1 hour. In that way, it will taste better.
- Scoop about 1 tbsp of the mixture onto a dumpling/gyoza wrapper with a knife or spoon and fold it over.
- Mix flour and water in a cup. You will use it in the next step.
- Put the salad oil in the heated non-stick pan , and put the dumplings. Pour the flour dissolved water and place the lid on. Keep the flame medium-low.
- When the water has almost evaporated - usually after 8 or 9 minutes, pour a little sesame oil (or salad oil) from the edge of the pan, and move the pan around slightly so that each of the dumplings' bottom gets a little bit of oil. Place the lid on, and turn the heat high. Cook the gyoza until the bottom gets crisp.
- Find a round plate that's a little smaller than the pan's opening diameter. Put the plate on top of the gyoza, and flip the pan with the plate so that all gyoza ends up on the plate. (I will make a video to show how to do it in the future)
Video recipe for gyoza will come soon!
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