Plunge

Gyoza Water Dumpling/紅油水餃子

Doggone it! I exclaimed when I opened the wonton skins tightly wrapped in paper, purchased at the Asian market. Seeing the thick, tan colored skins was disappointing. As If you are craving for something…in this case, water dumpling (水餃子) I checked to see if I had prepared all the ingredients for the recipe:
Pork-check,
long green onion-check,
ginger-check! So far so good, my excitement's level gone up a notch.
And finally the wonton skin -che..what?…Honey, shall we order a pizza tonight?
My husband offered to go back to the store to get paper thin and white color ‘true’ skins, round trip probably take more than a hour, but he’s like …what’s yamiagari (病み上がり) in English? …convalescence? How insensitive would I look if I accept his offer? Nah, I’m good.

There are basically three ways to cook gyoza. Pan fried then steam which is my favorite method, deep fried which is also my favorite but avoiding those to help me lose weight then this boiled kind is so tender and my favorite. Can you tell I’m huge fan of gyoza? Variety of recipes out there in the food blogger world and I tried quite a few – Faa…bulous! (click for my recipe here)

Ingredients and Instruction for 45 to 50 gyozas (Print Recipe Here)

For seasoning –Salad oil 1Tablespoon,
                            Soy sauce 1 Tablespoon
                            Sake 1 Tablespoon
                            Sugar 1 teaspoon (optional)
                            Sesame oil 1 Tablespoon
                            Salt and Pepper to taste

For Filling – Ground pork 1 pound
                      Nappa Cabbage 4 to 6 leaves
                      Long green onion 3 inches, white parts finely minced
                      Ginger about 1 inch, peeled and finely minced

Topping sauce – Sake 100cc
                              Soy sauce 75cc
                              Sugar 2 Tablespoons
                              La-Yu 2 –3 drops
                              Sesame Oil  1 teaspoon
                              Rice vinegar 2 teaspoons
                              Garlic 1-2 cloves finely minced

Wonton wrappers or gyoza skin –thin type 45 to 50

1. Start boiling 4 cups water. Meanwhile mix together seasoning ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Insert nappa cabbage into boiling water stem first for 30 seconds then submerge to cook 1 minute. Drain and cool with water. Squeeze cabbage with your hands to remove excess water and mince. Set aside.
3. Put filling ingredients in a large bowl except nappa cabbage. Mix well with your hands.
4. Add prepared seasoning mixture and continue mixing until ingredients became sticky.
5. Add minced cabbage* and fold in. *Cabbage still might be too watery, squeeze gently to remove water before adding.
6. Prepare 1/2 cup water in a small bowl(this act as glue). Lay the wonton skins on the table and place 1 Tablespoon of filling in the middle. Moisten the edges with water using your finger or a pastry brush dipped in water. Fold in a triangle or anyway you like. Here I did onion style.
7. Boil water (5 to 6 cups) in large pot. In another small sauce pan cook sake, soy sauce and sugar for 1 minute at high heat. Lower the heat to simmer, add rest of topping sauce Ingredients - La-Yu, sesame oil, vinegar and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.
8. When the water comes to full boil, lower the heat to medium but still keep it boiling. Drop 4-5 dumplings in the water at a time and cook until the dumpling comes to surface; 3-4 minutes. Stir once in a while to avoid having the dumplings stick to the bottom or each other. Check doneness by opening one to make sure it is fully cooked. Fish them out of the water with a spider sieve. Pour on the topping sauce. Garnish with green onion or cilantro if you like..
     Instead of soft and slick texture with right stuff, these were chewy and…well… interesting. I threw the idea of losing weight out the window for the moment, I deep fried a few to experiment. Mmmm, I love gyoza!

No more snow and temperature pushing mid 50’s in Portland. Life is good! From a very grateful me to all of you out there, have a nice week!This photo was taken from my husband’s office in downtown Portland. The early morning fog, reflection of his office and himself made this photo interesting. I can tell it was Friday…his signature look is to wear Hawaiian shirts on Fridays.