Well, if you are well cultural aware, dumplings are Chinese traditional cuisine but we Japanese developed our own style dumplings (Gyoza, we call) as well. To my point of view, the proper dumplings are more delicate and more special (maybe it is because I need to go to a proper authentic Chinese restaurant for that) but Japanese style dumplings are more like an easy home meal. Again, we can buy ready made frozen dumplings or ready made perfect shaped dumpling wrappers which makes it easier to enjoy Gyoza, Japanese style dumplings more often. Unfortunately, it never happens in this country- I once found the ready made frozen Gyoza in Japan Centre in London, pricy. How I'm supposed to take it back to home, 2hrs in a train?? Anyway, I missed them a lot so only thing I could do was to make them from scratch....
The hardest part was indeed to make wraps, I really do not know how to make such a perfect round shape which I can easily found back in Japan. Although it was not as beautiful as it should be, it was really juicy and tasty :) This is an experimental recipe and definitely requires more research on it!!!
Ingredients
Wrappers
75g Self raising flour
150g Strong flour
110ml water
Fillings
200g minced pork
150g shredded cabbage (I used sprouts as it has more strong flavor)
3-4 stalks of spring onions (chopped)
3 cloves garlic (grated)
thumb sized grated ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
1tbsp Japanese sake (or rice wine)
1tbsp soy sauce
1tbsp oyster sauce
1 good pinch of salt
Directions
1. In a large bowl, add flours and water. Mix with chopsticks (or sticks) until the mixture gets moist and manageable.
2. Knead for about 6-7 mins until the surface becomes smooth. Cover it with a wet paper towel and cling film, let it rest for 30 mins at least.
3. Slice cabbage (or sprouts) to very thin shred, put some salt to take most of moisture out.
4. Squeeze moisture out from cabbage, combine meat, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, sake, soy source, oyster sauce and mix well.
5. On a floured worktop, put the dough and roll into a stick. (Again, I had to make two sticks as my hands are too small to handle such a long dough.)
6. Cut into 40 pieces.
7. Roll each piece into a round wrapper using a rolling pin. (It is easier to move the dough rather than a rolling pin. Use a rolling pin to push the dough down while rotating a dough underneath)
8. Put a wrapper in your palm, put teaspoonful fillings in a centre.
9. Put water in a half edge of wrapper, fold it in a half, then fold dry edge into layers and press into wet edge.
10. In a large frying pan, heat a tablespoonful oil well. Lay dumplings.
11. Put about 3 tbsp water in a pan, cover with a lid, bring a heat to medium and cook for about 3-4 mins.
For the sauce to garnish, we mix soy sauce, rice vinegar (both in same amount) and drop chili sauce.
The hardest part was indeed to make wraps, I really do not know how to make such a perfect round shape which I can easily found back in Japan. Although it was not as beautiful as it should be, it was really juicy and tasty :) This is an experimental recipe and definitely requires more research on it!!!
Wrappers
75g Self raising flour
150g Strong flour
110ml water
Fillings
200g minced pork
150g shredded cabbage (I used sprouts as it has more strong flavor)
3-4 stalks of spring onions (chopped)
3 cloves garlic (grated)
thumb sized grated ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
1tbsp Japanese sake (or rice wine)
1tbsp soy sauce
1tbsp oyster sauce
1 good pinch of salt
Directions
1. In a large bowl, add flours and water. Mix with chopsticks (or sticks) until the mixture gets moist and manageable.
2. Knead for about 6-7 mins until the surface becomes smooth. Cover it with a wet paper towel and cling film, let it rest for 30 mins at least.
3. Slice cabbage (or sprouts) to very thin shred, put some salt to take most of moisture out.
4. Squeeze moisture out from cabbage, combine meat, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, sake, soy source, oyster sauce and mix well.
5. On a floured worktop, put the dough and roll into a stick. (Again, I had to make two sticks as my hands are too small to handle such a long dough.)
6. Cut into 40 pieces.
8. Put a wrapper in your palm, put teaspoonful fillings in a centre.
9. Put water in a half edge of wrapper, fold it in a half, then fold dry edge into layers and press into wet edge.
10. In a large frying pan, heat a tablespoonful oil well. Lay dumplings.
11. Put about 3 tbsp water in a pan, cover with a lid, bring a heat to medium and cook for about 3-4 mins.
For the sauce to garnish, we mix soy sauce, rice vinegar (both in same amount) and drop chili sauce.