Whether you eat Japanese gyoza in summer and drink a cold beer with it, or eat Japanese ramen noodles with Japanese gyoza in winter, it’s a super treat that makes you forget the tiredness and worries of the whole day. This is what I usually do and what I enjoy the most. With this easy Japanese gyoza recipe and dipping sauce, you can make a delicious meal in 40 minutes that your family will love!
Japanese gyoza VS Chinese potstickers
The difference between Japanese gyoza and Chinese potstickers is:
- The skin of Japanese gyoza is relatively thiner than potstickers.
- The filling contains more meat.
- A lot of crushed garlic and ginger is added to the filling.
- Usually, the two corners of Japanese gyoza are open, not closed.
- The vegetables used for the filling are usually cabbage and a small amount of garlic chives. Chinese potstickers, on the other hand, are usually filled with many different vegetables and meats.
If you want to try Chinese potstickers, you can check out my earlier post Potstickers (Chinese Pan Fried Dumplings!).
Gyoza filling
Japanese gyoza filling usually contains ground pork, garlic chives (Chinese chives), cabbage, crushed garlic, grated ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, and egg. If you can’t find garlic chives, you can use scallions or just only cabbage will be fine. Because don’t forget that Japanese gyoza is mainly filled with meat.
It should be noted that the best ratio of ground pork is 30% fat and 70% lean meat. This way it won’t be too fatty or too caloric, and the taste won’t be too dry, but juicier.
After you chop vegetables, you’ve to dehydrate them. To do this, add salt to the chopped vegetables and mix it evenly with the vegetables. Leave it for 5 to 10 minutes. Then squeeze some water out of the vegetables with your two hands. The salt can remove the water from the vegetables.
So when you wrap the gyozas, they won’t get soggy from too much water. Or when you eat them, the filling won’t fall apart easily because it’s too moist.
The main advantage of adding eggs and mixing the filling evenly is that the filling doesn’t separate, whether wrapping or frying, even if the dumpling breaks, the filling doesn’t separate.
How to wrap Japanese gyoza
- Put the filling in the middle of the dumpling skin.
- Apply water to the half-moon on the side of the dumpling skin.
- After folding the dumpling skin in half, grab some folds.
- Remember that the corners of the two sides don't need to be closed, they're open.
How to pan fried gyoza
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large NONSTICK skillet (with lid) over medium-high heat.
- When you place the gyoza, remember to dip the oil in the pan and place them one by one. Pan-fried them in the pan for about 2 minutes until the bottom has a nice golden color. Then pour water into the pan.
- Then immediately cover the pan to steam the gyoza for around 3 minutes.
- Uncover the pan and cook for another 3-4 minutes until all the water has evaporated.
How to make dumpling dough?
Flour and water are the only ingredients for this dumpling dough recipe!
- 3 cups (270g) of all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (110cc) of room hot water
- 1 tablespoon of salt
Prepare a large container, put flour, hot water, and salt in it. When you put in the hot water, use a chopstick to mix the hot water with the flour as you put it in. Then press the dough down with your hand. It’ll feel dry at first, but if you keep pressing it, it’ll come back together.
Cover the dough with a lid and let it stand for 1 hour. After an hour, keep pinching the container until it feels smooth. Then cover it with a lid and let it stand for another 1 hour.
How to make dumpling wrappers
- Place the dough on a floured surface and knead it for about 10 minutes until it's smooth and soft.
- Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a 12 inch long roll and cut the roll into ½ inch pieces ( around 7~8g).
- Take one piece of dough, roll it into a ball, and flatten the ball with the heel of your hand. Use a rolling pin to shape the roll, making sure the edge is thinner than the center.
- Roll each piece into a circle about 3 inches in diameter and lightly flour the surface so the dough doesn't stick. It's okay if the roll isn't perfectly round, you're going to fold it anyway.
Gyoza dipping sauce
The ratio of gyoza dipping sauce usually contains soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil. I like to add some shichimi togarashi – Japanese mixed chili peppers – to enhance the flavor.
More Chinese pork dishes
Sweet And Sour Pork With Pineapple
Teriyaki Meatballs
Ground Pork Stir Fry With Green Beans
Baked Pork Chops and Cheese In Sweet and Sour Sauce
Pan-Fried Boneless Pork Chop
Oven Pork Ribs
Watch how to make:
Ingredients
JAPANESE GYOZA FILLING:
- 1 lb /450g ground pork
- 60 g Chinese chives ,(garlic chives)
- 0.67 lb /300g cabbage
- 6 gloves garlic ,crushed
- 15 g ginger ,grated
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon salt ,half to preserved cabbage, another half add into the gyoza filling.
- 1 egg
- 45 pieces gyoza wrappers ,Noted 1
DIPPING SAUCE:
- soy sauce
- rice wine vinegar ,or black vinegar
- sesame oil or chili oil
Instructions
PORK GYOZA FILLING.
- Prepare the cabbage and garlic chives – first straight into 1 cm wide and then into 1 cm long horizontal strips. Put 1 tablespoon of salt on the cabbage and garlic chives. Sprinkle the salt evenly and let it stand for 5 minutes. The cabbage and garlic chives should be finely chopped, then it'll be easier to process and wrap in gyoza wrappers.
- In the meantime, you can crush garlic and grate the ginger. If you chop it, make sure you chop it very small. Otherwise, it may be too spicy. Set aside.
- Squeeze some water out of the vegetables with your two hands. Then put it in another container, and repeat this process until all the cabbage and garlic chives leaves are squeezed out. Set aside. (Noted 2)
- Put soy sauce, egg, sesame oil, crush garlic and grate the ginger, minced pork, garlic chives, and cabbage in the container. Mix all ingredients – mix evenly. (Noted 3)
ASSEMBLE GYOZA
- First, prepare a small bowl of water. Second, sprinkle some flour on a baking sheet. This will keep the gyoza from sticking to the baking sheet
- Put the filling in the middle of the gyoza skin. Apply water to the half-moon on the side of the gyoza skin.
- After folding the gyoza skin in half, grab some folds. Remember that the corners of the two sides don't need to be closed, they're open.
PAN FRIED GYOZA
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large NONSTICK skillet (with lid) over medium-high heat.
- When you place the gyoza, remember to dip the oil in the pan and place them one by one. Pan-fried them in the pan for about 2 minutes until the bottom has a nice golden color. Then pour water into the pan.
- Then immediately cover the pan to steam the gyoza for around 3 minutes.
- Uncover the pan and cook for another 3-4 minutes until all the water has evaporated.
- Ready to serve.
Video
Tips & Notes:
- Japanese gyoza wrappers are the best if you can buy them. The difference with Chinese dumpling wrappers is that the skins are thinner. If you can’t buy Japanese gyoza wrappers, you can use Chinese dumpling wrappers. If you roll the gyoza wrappers yourself, you just need to make the wrappers a little thinner and it’ll be the Japanese gyoza wrappers.
- When you squeeze them, don’t squeeze too dry, about 50% is enough. Otherwise, the gyoza will be too dry when you eat them. Another reason is when you wrap the gyozas, they won’t get soggy from too much water. Or when you eat them, the filling won’t fall apart easily because it’s too moist.
- The main advantage of adding eggs and mixing the filling evenly is that the filling doesn’t separate, whether wrapping or frying, even if the dumpling breaks, the filling doesn’t separate.
Is it okay to reference some of this on my blog if I include a backlink to this page?
Hi ~ Can I know what is your blog?
Sure~ you can do it and backlink to this page. I’m just curious what your blog is if you can share it.