Hubby made gyoza

My hubby made gyoza for dinner last Sunday (April 12) and it was delicious. Although we have eaten gyoza at restaurants innumerable times, somehow until now I never learnt how to make it at home. So hubby wanted to teach me one more new and simple food recipe to add to my list of growing Japanese recipes.

Gyoza or pot sticker is a popular dumpling in Japanese cuisine. Gyoza originated in China and it is said to have been introduced to Japan in late 17th century. In fact, I still remember that the first time I saw gyoza, its shape reminded of an Indian sweet called gujiya. Gyoza typically consists of ground meat and vegetable filling wrapped into a thinly rolled piece of dough, which is then sealed by pressing the edges together. There are various kinds of fillings for gyoza. The most popular fillings are ground pork, cabbage, and Chinese chives (nira). Gyoza can be cooked in various ways. Sui-gyoza (boiled) is very soft and can be eaten hot or cold. Mushi-gyoza (steamed) is also soft and is eaten hot. Age-gyoza (deep-fried) is considered a finger food. The most common gyoza is yaki-gyoza (pan-fried), in which the dumpling is first fried on one flat side, creating a crispy brown and crunchy skin. Then, water is added and the pan is sealed with a lid until the upper part of the gyoza is steamed. Hubby made yaki-gyoza.

Hubby used Chinese cabbage (hakusai), nira chives, and ground pork for making the gyoza filling. He cut the hakusai and nira into very small pieces. The amount of these two ingredients should be roughly equal to the amount of ground pork. He then mixed the cut hakusai, nira, and ground pork all together. We can add small pieces of naga-negi (Japanese leek), ginger, and garlic along with some salt, pepper, soy-sauce, sake, and sesame oil also. However, hubby skipped adding all these ingredients as he wanted to make gyoza with a very simple and natural taste.

Gyoza filling

We bought premade gyoza dough wrapper pieces, which are usually available in any grocery store here in Japan. So we could avoid the time consuming and difficult part of making of the gyoza dough.

Hubby holding a gyoza dough wrapper

Hubby put about one table spoon of the filling onto a piece of dough wrapper.

Gyoza filling on a dough wrapper

Then the edge of the dough was moistened with water. However, we have to moisten only a semicircle, and not all the way round. Next, the filling was wrapped up. While closing the gyoza, hubby folded the edge about 5-6 times. He then shaped the gyoza a bit.

Wrapping up the gyoza filling

Hubby made many such gyozas.

Hubby posing while making gyoza

Many wrapped up gyozas

After this, hubby placed the gyozas in a flat-bottomed prying pan with one table spoon oil. He fried the gyozas a little bit until the gyoza bottom was brownish, then added water so that about one third of the gyoza height was immersed in the water. After covering the pan with a lid, the gyozas were allowed to cook until all the water had vaporized.

Frying gyozas in one table spoon of oil

Hubby added water into the pan and then posed for the photo while covering the pan with a lid

Gyozas cooking

Gyozas are cooked as all the water has vaporized

Then, hubby removed the gyoza from the heat and arranged them in a plate. Gyozas were ready to be eaten. Gyoza dumplings are served with a dipping sauce. Usually same amount of soy-sauce and vinegar are mixed together along with a small amount of chili pepper-flavored sesame oil. This time we used only soy-sauce as the dipping sauce.

Gyoza dumplings with dipping sauce

Hot gyoza pieces are eaten after dipping them in the dipping sauce.

Hubby eating gyoza

Hubby and I enjoyed our dinner of gyoza and rice. The gyoza dumplings were really delicious. Thanks hubby for teaching me a simple recipe of gyoza.