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Gyoza, potstickers, dumplins… whatever you wanna call it. This is a meal that will feed your family, your friends, and impress your would-be lover all at one time. One of the most important aspects of gyoza is the sauce that comes with it, as well as the chili oil. Oooooh the chili oil is essential.
This recipe makes approximately 20-25 dumplins, depending on how fat you fill ‘em.
Fillin’ the dumplins
Here’s what you need:
2 carrots
3 stalks of celery
5-6 bulbs of garlic
1/4 cup of ginger
2 cups of napa cabbage or green cabbage
2 green onions or leeks
5 shiitake mushrooms (or white or crimini)
Optional: 2 serrano peppers or 3-4 Thai chili peppers
In order to make the dumplin filling, finely chop all the above ingredients - they should be julienned first, then sliced perpendicularly to make the smallest possible dice. Continue cutting across to mince smaller, if prefered. Transfer all of the above finely chopped vegetables into a bowl. From there add:
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar
Optional: black vinegar, sesame oil, sambal oelek
And mix together
Add a bit of oil (about a tablespoon or two) to the skillet. Add all minced vegetables and saute for about 10-15 minutes, stirring regularly until all the liquid is soaked up. Set aside the vegetable mix to cool.
Foldin’ the dumplins:
Alright! Get your wonton wrappers out. When you’re folding dumplins, the best thing to do is have a bowl of water nearby - gyoza wrappers fold together best with a little water on your fingers. Put a spoonful of the vegetable filling in the center of the wrapper and fold together - push the edges together with wetted fingertips (they probably won’t look super pretty, but so long as the wrappers are closed, they’ll turn our great). Make sure they’re tight and sealed as best as you possibly can seal them with no holes or openings. It most definitely takes some finesse, so don’t be upset if the first few are extra ugly. It’ll get easier as you go along. I’d also recommend sprinkling a bit of flour on whatever surface you’re folding on, it’ll help with the wrapper sticking to the surface and making it more difficult. Here are the instructions listed on the bag, they could probably explain it better than me:
When you’re making these dumplins, they will turn out best if you freeze them for a night and then cook them the next day (sprinkle flour over a baking sheet or cutting board, then place the dumplins in a single layer over them. Place in freezer and allow them to freeze, then transfer them to a ziploc bag, that way they won’t stick together during the freezing process). But you can cook them the day you make them, just use a bit of flour while folding the dumplins in order to keep them from being too moist and falling apart in the cooking process. If the dumplins are too moist, they might stick to the pan while cooking. Regardless, make sure you use a non-stick pan to cook them.
Cookin’ the dumplins:
The best option is to pan-fry them:
Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a non-stick pan on medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, place the dumplings in a row in the pan, putting the bottom side down.
Cook for 3-5 minutes until the bottom side of the dumplins are golden brown. If you’d like a more fried dumpling, turn the dumplins over every 2-3 minutes so that each side is golden brown. After the wrapper has received enough frying, add 3 tablespoons of water to the pan and cover. Let cook for about 5 minutes in order to steam the filling. Remove from the heat after 5ish minutes and the dumplings will be ready.
Dippin’ the dumplins
3 teaspoons of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of sugar or agave syrup
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder
1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
Optional: a drop or two of sesame oil
Mix together, maybe microwave for 15 seconds to melt the sugar. Top with a bit of chopped green onion or leek
Click here for my Thai Chili Oil Recipe
BONUS: Roasted Baby Bok Choy
Baby Bok Choy is a beautiful and delicious vegetable. It’s relatively cheap, super easy to make, and makes an excellent side dish if dumplins are your main meal. My partner and I regularly have roasted baby bok choy and dumplins as an easy dinner when we don’t feel like cooking for a long time.
Start with 4-6 heads of baby bok choy, preheat oven to 425
Cut them in half length wise and place on a baking sheet
Drizzle oil, then sprinkle salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper over them
Roast at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes
Bam!!! Use extra dumplin sauce for dipping
𝕊𝕀𝕃𝕂 ℝ𝕆𝔸𝔻 𝔾𝕆𝕌ℝ𝕄𝔼𝕋
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Variety Jones
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