Pork and Wakame Gyoza

Gyoza! This is another recipe, and it’s really good! The pork filling includes a couple of very Japanese ingredients: wakame and miso.

I made the gyoza wrappers from the recipe in my Japanese cooking project book. This time I made it all in one day, and surprise, surprise, the dough was well behaved without long resting periods.

For 40 gyoza skins, use 2 cups all-purpose flour (plus 1/4 teaspoon salt), add up to 1 cup boiling water by spoonsful. Mix with chopsticks. The flour gets more and more lumpy looking, until you can form it into a ball. It will look quite primative, but wrap it in a damp cloth and let it pull itself together, resting for 1 hour.

Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic—less than 5 minutes: I usually knead it longer so it seems that is why I’ve needed to let the dough rest more! Roll it into a log about 1 1/4″ in diameter. Cut it into 4 pieces. Work with one section at a time, keeping the remainder covered with a damp cloth. In the picture, you can see I used plastic wrap, but cloth would have been better—condensation. Roll each disk: roll the slice into an oblong shape, turn 30°, roll again, turn 30° and roll. Ideally you’ll have a 2 1/4″ circle. Roll just the circumference of the dough to make the edges thinner. You want to make dumpling wrappers about 3″ in diameter, with the edges thinner than the centers. Dust each wrapper with flour and stack. The stack is higher in the center, where each skin is thicker.

Pork and Wakame Gyoza
from Washoku by Elizabeth Andoh

I doubled the original recipe here, because if I’m making gyoza, I’m going to make enough to make me happy. 40 dumplings
Dipping Sauce:

• 6 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 Tablespoons rice vinegar

Mix the above ingredients together. Divide into individual serving bowls to accompany the gyoza.
For 12 ounces ground pork:

The Vegetables:

• 4″ piece of negi, or a small leek, or a bunch of green onions
• 3 large cabbage leaves (I used about 6 small leaves of savoy cabbage)
• 3″ piece of carrot
• 2 Tablespoons dried wakame

Cut the onion into large chunks. Coarsely chop the cabbage, including the stems. Slice the carrot. Put all of the vegetables into a food processor, and pulse until the mixture is finely minced. The wakame will absorb liquid from the vegetables.
Note: Next time, I’ll add the cabbage close to the end of the processing so it is not chopped so small. The pork needs to have some vegetable pieces to make it less dense.
The Seasonings:

• 2 Tablespoons sake
• 2 teaspoons dark miso
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Put the above into a deep bowl and mix well. Add the vegetables from the food processor. Mix. Add the pork and knead the mixture with your hands until well combined and sticky.
Filling:
Form the filling into a ball, then divide it into quarters. Work with one portion at a time and keep the remainder in the fridge. Have ready a small bowl of cold water to seal the edges of the dumplings. Have a cookie sheet covered with a cotton cloth to place the finished dumplings on. For more details about shaping the dumplings and making those cool looking pleats click here.
Cooking:
Heat a skillet; when it’s hot add 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Arrange the gyoza around the pan without crowding. Cook the dumplings until the bottoms are browned golden, about 3 minutes. Pour about 1/4 cup of water and 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil into the pan, and slap the cover over the skillet. Lower the heat so the water just simmers. Steam the dumplings for about 5 minutes—cooking is finished when the skins become translucent and the pork is firm. Continue to cook until the pan is sizzling and the water evaporated. Serve 5 or 6 dumplings for an appetizer or side-dish, 10 to 12 for a main course. Be sure everyone has some dipping sauce.

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Eggplant and Miso in a Wok		Gyoza: Pleating the Dumplings

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