International Food Feast - Chinese Gyoza

Getting back with a yummy Chinese dish after a small break. :) This is something that was waiting to be made for quite sometime. If you remember I had written a post titled "Food on voyage" few months ago, that was the first ever time I had tasted dumpling, and since then I have been craving for it. Finally today was chosen to be the finest day to try it out :)


Gyoza or potsticker is a Chinese dumpling, and has a history of seven thousand years, widely popular in China and Japan as well as outside of East Asia, particularly in North America. Gyoza typically consist of a vegetable filling/ ground meat wrapped into a thinly rolled piece of dough, which is then sealed by pressing the edges together or by crimping.

Gyoza Filling

Ingredients:

Chinese Cabbage - 1/2 cup(chopped)
Onion - 1
Cilantro - 1/4 cup(chopped)
Spring onion - 1/4 cup chopped
Garlic - 5 pods
Ginger - 1/4 inch piece
White pepper - 1 tsp
Oil - for frying
Salt - for taste

Method:

Take 2 tsp of oil in a pan and add finely chopped ginger and garlic and fry for a while.Then add chopped onion and when it turns slightly brown add chopped cabbage, spring onion and cilantro to it. sprinkle little water and adequate salt to it. The vegetables would get cooked in a matter of few min. Finally add white pepper to it and mix well. The filling is done.

You can add carrots and other suitable vegetables to the filling too.

Gyoza Wrapper

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 2 cups
Salt - for taste
Oil
Water

Method:

Mix all the ingredients well to make a smooth dough. kneed for a while to make the dough lump less and elastic. Close the bowl with a cloth and leave it alone for fifteen min.

Now kneed the dough again and pinch small balls from it. Roll out each ball of dough with a rolling pin into circles. Each should be about 2-3 inches across 1/8 inch thick. Roll over again only on the outer most part of the circle to make it slightly thinner than the center, so that once it is crimped it does not become too thick on top. Apply little cooking oil and then keep a little of the filling in the center and close it and crimp the top.

Google for videos on how to fold a dumpling. You would get many styles to follow. ;) Make it look as interesting as possible. :)
This quantity would make upto 30 wrappers. Now steam them for 10 min. Chinese Gyoza Is ready to eat. :) Happy making. :)

Serving ideas

* Serve it with white sauce or tomato ketchup.
* Serve it by putting them in a clear soup of any vegetable stalk.
* Serve it with a soy vinegar dipping.

White Sauce

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 cup
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Butter - 1/4 cup
Salt - for taste


Method:
Take all the ingredients in a heavy bottomed vessel and let it boil for a while. Keep mixing it with a whisk till it becomes creamy and thick. Keep stirring else it would start forming lumps. Cook till the rawness of the flour is gone. White sauce is done. :)

Thanks to Priya, Priya Raj and Vineela Siva for passing their encouragement as awards to me. :)

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com