Pork Dumplings – Gyoza

I always adore dumplings but I had never made them myself as I know myself pretty well- hehe.. I am extremely impatient!! I was quite proud of myself for being so patient making 30 dumplings in a night. Pity my poor hubby, he had to wait until about 9.00pm for his dinner on Saturday night ;-p haha.. Slow me.
But it was worth everything, the dumplings were great!! I loved them!! I saved some for Duncan and Lynn and they loved them too. This recipe is definitely a keeper; I will definitely cook these for my mum and brothers for their next visit.

Filling
200g cabbage, finely chopped
200g minced pork
2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 ½ tbsp Japanese soy sauce
2 tsp sake
2 tsp mirin
¼ tsp white pepper
2 spring onions, finely chopped.

200g gyoza wrappers
Vegetable oil
2 tsp sesame oil


To make the filling, put the cabbage in a colander, sprinkle with salt and stand for 30 minutes. Squeeze well, and then mix with the rest of the filling ingredients.

Lay a wrapper in the palm of your hand and put 2 tsp of the filling in the middle. Lightly dampen the edge of the wrapper with water, then fold the edge together to form a semicircle, pressing firmly to enclose the filling. Lightly dampen the curved edge of the wrapper, then overlap around the edge to form a pleat. Put each dumping on the tray. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling.

Heat a little oil in a large, non stick pan over medium – high heat. Put the dumpling in the pan, flat side down, in a single layer, leaving a little space between each dumpling. (if your pan is not large enough to fit all the dumplings at once, cook them in batches.)

Cook for 2 minutes, or until the bottoms are crisp and golden. Combine 125ml boiling water with 2 tsp of sesame oil, then add to the pan. Cover, reduce the heat to low and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove the lid, increase the heat to high and cook until the liquid has evaporated, making sure the dumplings don’t catch and burn. Remove from the pan and serve hot.