Hanetsuki gyoza
These delicate Japanese dumplings are pan fried until crisp and filled with a delicious pork mixture. Try serving them alongside ramen.
Ingredients
For the gyozas
- 250g/9oz pork mince
- 4 garlic cloves, finely grated
- 15g/½oz nira (also known as garlic chives), finely sliced
- 80²µ/2¾´Ç³ú Chinese cabbage (such as Napa cabbage), finely chopped
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- 24 gyoza wrappers (see recipe tips)
- 10²µ/â…“o³ú cornflour, plus extra for dusting
- 10²µ/â…“o³ú plain flour
- 1–2 tbsp vegetable oil, for frying
For the dipping sauce
- 4 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp chilli oil or sesame oil
Method
In a bowl, combine the pork mince, garlic, nira, Chinese cabbage, sea salt and white pepper.
To assemble the gyoza, have your gyoza wrappers and a bowl of cold water to hand, with the wrappers unwrapped, but covered loosely with a damp cloth or kitchen paper (if the wrappers dry out they are difficult to seal). Lightly dust a tray with cornflour.
Lay out a few wrappers at a time, dip your fingers in water and moisten their edges. Add a small spoonful of the pork mixture to the centre of each wrapper. Fold the wrappers over the filling and crimp one side while firmly pressing it onto the other side to seal. This will take some practice, but don’t worry if your crimping skills aren’t ‘gyoza master’ level. Some cooks don’t crimp at all, and un-crimped or awkwardly crimped gyoza still taste delicious. Keep the gyoza lined up on the dusted tray covered with damp kitchen paper while you make the remaining gyoza.
For the dipping sauce, stir all the ingredients together.
To cook the gyozas, prepare a starch slurry by stirring together the flours and 150ml/¼ pint cold water. It should resemble milk.
Add a little oil to a non-stick frying pan (see recipe tips) and use kitchen paper to wipe it around the surface so that only a thin film of oil remains (too much oil will cause the slurry to bubble, which makes it difficult to hold together). Heat the pan over a medium–high heat until it feels quite warm when you hold your hand above it. Add the gyoza, sealed-side up, in a sunflower/pinwheel pattern – you should be able to fit all the gyoza in the pan, but don’t worry if not, just make sure all the gyoza are snuggled up to each other, with no gaps between them, otherwise you’ll risk breaking the wings when you remove them from the pan.
Fry the gyoza for a minute. Give the cornflower liquid a good stir to mix in anything that might have settled to the bottom, then pour about 3–4 tablespoons of the liquid into the pan. The slurry should cover the bottom of the pan completely and surround all the gyoza. Immediately place a lid on the pan, turn the heat up to high and leave to steam for 3 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to cook until all the liquid has evaporated. When the pan is totally dry, a light, thin crust should have formed – you will be able to tell when it’s done because no part of it will still be bubbling and the crust will have curled away slightly from edges of pan.
To serve, it is best to have a plate that fits inside your frying pan so it can be rested on top of the gyoza in the pan. Lay the plate upsidedown on top of the gyoza, then carefully invert the pan and plate to turnout the gyoza. Serve with the dipping sauce.
Recipe Tips
This recipe requires a very reliable non-stick pan or a well-seasoned cast iron frying pan with a lid. Don’t even attempt these without one or the gyoza won’t cook properly and the ‘wings’ won’t release from the pan.
Gyoza wrappers usually come in packs of 24 or 30; this recipe will make 30 gyoza if you just use a tiny bit less filling in each one.
