Recipe: Japanese gyoza (potsticker) 餃子

During Chinese New Year, jiaozi 饺子or potsticker is traditionally eaten in northern China because its shape resembles a golden ingot yuan bao used during the Ming Dynasty for money, so serving them is believed to bring prosperity. Many families will eat these at midnight on Chinese New Year's Eve and some cooks will even hide a clean coin for the lucky person to find.

Nowadays, it is eaten all over the world and one of the more popular versions is the Japanese gyoza. The most popular preparation method is the pan-fried style called Yaki-gyōza (焼き餃子)  in which the dumpling is first pan fried on one flat side, creating a crispy skin. Then, water is added and the pan is covered with a lid, and steamed until most of the water has evaporated and the gyoza is cooked through.

Homemade Japanese Gyoza

My first encounter with gyoza was in Wagamama in Birmingham many years ago. It was love at first bite, and from then on, I would often order it if I see it on menus at Japanese restaurants (mainly ramen places). I never really thought of making it myself at home, because folding the pleats look quite complicated. That was until one of my good blogging friends Sonia showed us how to fold the gyoza pleats during our Christmas gathering last year! I have Sonia to thank as now I make gyoza all the time for my family at home and they love it very much. These are extremely good, and even puts restaurant gyozas to shame at times.

Quite proud of my homemade Japanese gyozas ;)

Crispy and juicy gyozas

Gyozas make an appearance on our lunch menu all the time now, often served with cold soba 

Gyoza served with a soy sauce-vinegar dip with julienned ginger

Juicy within!

Gyoza skin can be easily obtained in KL, usually found in the tofu/fresh noodle (chiller) section. I use a brand called Lo Sam and each pack comes with 28 gyoza wrappers. I will usually make a batch of 28 and cook half, and freeze the other half. It will keep well in the freezer for up to a month, and before cooking, remove from freezer for 30 minutes and it will be ready to be pan fried as usual. It only takes less than 5 minutes to cook, hence will make a great (quick) accompaniment to lunch or dinner. These are actually quite fun to make with your kids, Baby C managed to wrap a few with a little help from me.

Video on how to fold a Japanese gyoza

Japanese Gyoza (Potstickers) 餃子

Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from Nasi Lemak Lover
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes

Makes 28 (Serves 4)

For the gyoza filling
250g minced pork
100g cabbage, chopped finely
1 stalk spring onion, chopped finely
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tbsp Japanese light soy sauce
1/2 tsp mirin
1/2 tsp sake
3/4 tsp salt or to taste
Pepper

1 pack (200g) gyoza wrappers

For frying one batch (you can usually cook 14 in one batch)
1 tbsp oil
1/4 cup water

For the dipping sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
1-2 cm ginger, julienned


1. In a large bowl, mix all the filling ingredients with your hands until well combined.

Japanese gyoza wrapper

2. To wrap a gyoza, please refer to video above. Prepare a small bowl of water. Place a small mound of filling in the centre of the wrapper. Dip your finger into the water, and run it around the edges of the gyoza wrapper.  Bring the edges together to form a semi-circle. Seal the centre (only) by gently pressing down with your fingers. Moving from centre to the right, form a pleat and press to seal. Leave a small gap then repeat with another pleat and press to seal. Now, make another 2 pleats on the left hand side as you just did on the right side. So, in total you will have 4 pleats on each gyoza. Once the pleats are done, gently curve the ends so that it forms sort of a moon-shape when looking from above. 

Making 2 pleats on the right hand side

Ready to be cooked

3. Cook in two batches (14 in a batch). In a medium non-stick frying pan, heat oil on medium high heat. When the pan is hot, place gyoza in a row (touching each other) at the center and place the rest of gyoza to fill up the entire pan.

4. Fry gyoza until the bottom turns golden brown, this will take about 1-2 minutes (pick up the gyoza with your hands and check if golden on the bottom). Then pour in the water and immediately cover with the lid, and steam the gyoza until most of the water has evaporated.

5. Remove gyoza to a serving plate, pan fried golden side up (more attractive looking) and serve hot with dipping sauce.To make the dipping sauce, just mix the soy sauce and vinegar and top with julienned ginger.

6. You can freeze uncooked gyozas for up to a month in the freezer. When freezing, leave space in between so that the gyoza will not stick together. Before cooking, simple remove from freezer to defrost for 30 minutes. Then, cook as in Step 3-5.

*This recipe was featured on Fabulous Food Blog Recipes on 10 April 2013.

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