I recently spent a day in a Japanese kitchen. Aya, my teacher, made making the gyoza dumpling look effortless; my slow and steady process took twice the time, but still tasted ok. Aya’s mum always salts and rinses the cabbage before using, but we found it worked ok without this step.
Pork Gyoza
150g pork mince
1 cup finely shredded cabbage
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tsp Japanese soy sauce
2 tsp sake
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp caster sugar
Pinch of ground white pepper
24 gyoza or gowgee wrappers
2 tsp peanut oil
Japanese soy sauce, to serve
Combine the pork, cabbage, green onion, garlic, soy sauce, sake, sesame oil, caster sugar and pepper in a medium bowl. Place a gyoza wrapper on a clean work surface. Spoon a heaped teaspoonful of pork mixture onto the centre of the wrapper. Brush the edge with a little water. Fold over to enclose the filling. Use your fingertips to pleat the edge 4- 5 times. Place on a plate. Repeat with remaining pork mixture and wrappers.
Heat the peanut oil in a large frying pan over high heat until just smoking. Remove from heat. Arrange dumplings over the base of the frying pan. Return to the heat and cook for 2 minutes or until the base of the dumplings are golden. Sprinkle about 1/4 cup water evenly over the gyozas. Cook, covered, for 3-4 minutes or until gyozas are cooked and the water evaporates. Serve with soy sauce. Makes 24
