My Mom's Gyoza
Author: 
Recipe type: Main, Side Dish
 
Ingredients
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 2 - 3 cups chopped nira (garlic chives, aka Chinese chives or Korean chives)
  • 1 cup chopped negi (green onions, aka scallion, spring onions
  • 4 -5 garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 large clump of ginger, finely chopped
  • ½ cabbage, chopped finely
  • 6 - 8 nappa cabbage leaves chopped finely
  • 2½ tablespoons sesame oil
  • 2½ tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)
  • a few dashes of salt
  • a few dashes of pepper
  • 2 packs gyoza wrappers
  • Canola oil for pan frying gyoza
  • Water for steaming gyoza
Instructions
  1. Chop nira, negi, ginger and garlic.  Set this aside.
  2. Chop cabbage and nappa cabbage in to very small, fine pieces.  Place in a bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute.  The cabbage should cook slightly, and water will be released.  Place the cabbage in a towel or cheese cloth and squeeze all of the excess water out.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the meat, cabbage and chopped ingredients. Season with sesame oil, soy sauce and a dash of salt and pepper.  Use hands to mix the meat with all of the vegetables and seasonings.
  4. Set-up your gyoza wrapping station.  Use a big sheet of wax paper and lay this on the table. You'll also need a spoon to scoop the meat, as well as a small bowl of water and a butter knife.
  5. I like to mass-produce my gyoza in assembly-line fashion.  Lay out the gyoza wrappers, place about 1½ teaspoons of the meat mixture in the center of all of the wrappers. Next, take your butter knife, dip this into the water, and moisten just half of the wrapper along the edge. Next, with the moistened half of the wrapper resting on your hand, fold over the half of the wrapper that is not moistened and create folds like a fan.  I usually try to make 5 folds per gyoza.  They look pretty with 5 folds.  :)
  6. To make "fan folds" (if you're right-handed), use your right thumb to make one fan fold at the left-hand corner of your gyoza. Repeat this step to create a few more "fan folds" as you work your way around the gyoza.  As you get towards the center, you might find that you need to press the meat down towards the center using your right middle finger as you create the center "fan fold".  Once the gyoza is sealed, I sit the gyoza on the wax paper, press down gently so that the bottom is flattened just a little, then slightly shape the gyoza fan into a curve.
  7. In a large frying pan (with lid), heat generous amount of canola oil over medium heat.  Lay gyoza in the pan, bottom down, and with sufficient space between each.  If you crowd your pan, they will stick together during the steaming process and when you try to pull them apart you risk tearing them open.
  8. SHORTCUT: If you have a a large table-top teppanyaki pan with lid, use this to cook your gyoza. You can cook almost 40 to 50 at a time. Heat pan to about 250 to 300 F degrees. Spread oil on pan, layout all the gyoza, side by side. Cook until the bottoms of the gyoza are browned, about 4 to 5 minutes. You may need to move the gyoza around the pan if the heat is not distributed evenly to prevent some of the dumplings from burning. Once the dumplings are browned, add about ½ cup of water to the pan, and immediately cover with lid to steam the gyoza. Steam for about 3 minutes or until the water evaporates. Turn down the heat to warming mode. Eat the gyoza tabletop, and the gyoza are always guaranteed hot!
Notes
Makes approximately 135 dumplings. If you are planning to freeze the excess dumplings, I typically pan-fry them first, and then freeze them in packs of 10 for a quick and easy lunch or dinner.
Recipe by Bebe Love Okazu at https://bebeloveokazu.com/2010/05/24/gyoza/