Gyoza

Note: My friend Craig shared this delectable Japanese recipe with me and I have confirmed its deliriousness.  Craig has his own recipe blog here.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground pork
• 2 to 2 ¼ cup shredded white or Napa cabbage
• 4-5 scallions, finely diced
• 1½ T grated, minced fresh ginger root
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3 T tamari dark soy sauce
• 1 to 1 ½ t sesame oil
• 1 ½ T oyster sauce
• ground black pepper, to taste
• slosh or two of mirin
• 50 gyoza wrappers, or as needed (also wonton wrappers, basically anything that is round and small)

Directions:

1) Chop cabbage fine, sprinkle with coarse salt, let sit for 20 minutes then squeeze out as much water as you can with a cheese cloth or clean tea towel

2) Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl, adding meat last.

3) Place 1 1/2 teaspoons in the center of each gyoza wrapper and use your finger to put water around the edge.

4) Fold the sides up to form a semicircle, and then pinch the edges to seal. Continue with the rest of the gyoza wrappers until the filling is gone. (Or, cheat like I did and use a wonton press)

5) To cook, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a heavy frying pan over medium to medium-high heat. Add some of the Gyoza, don’t crowd the pat too much, and cook for 2 minutes, or until medium golden brown on the bottom.

6) Add 1/2 cup of water to the pan. Cover the dumplings and cook until the water is absorbed (5 to 7 minutes). Repeat with the remainder of the gyoza dumplings.

Prepared Tamari Soy Sauce

½ C Tamari dark soy sauce
½ C Katsuobushi (dried bonito tuna flakes)
¼ C dried seaweed (nori)
3 T mirin

Put all of the ingredients in a small sauce pan, bring to a simmer over medium to medium-high heat, remove from heat and allow to steep for 5 minutes. Remove the bonito flakes and seaweed with a very small sieve or spider, being sure to squeeze as much liquid out as possible, and then discard.

Gyoza Dipping Sauce

1 C prepared Tamari sauce (see recipe above)
1 C rice vinegar
1 t sesame oil (or to taste. You may also use rayu - spicy sesame oil)

To be added at table and/or to taste. When preserving left over sauce in the fridge, do not add the following ingredients. They do not keep long. Add them fresh to the sauce before serving, and in this way, the sauce will keep in the fridge longer.

1 teaspoon minced/grated ginger root
1 scallion, minced

Optional:

1-2 T fresh grated daikon radish
¼ teaspoon roasted, crushed sesame seeds
dash of lemon juice

Notes

• I cheated and bought a package of thinly slice cabbage (intended for use in cole slaw).
• I used shrimp when I made it.
• It made more Gyoza than would fit in my frying pan. So, I got my bamboo steamer out and steamed the rest on top of cabbage leaves.