Want to know how to make potstickers? AKA Gyoza. Naomi, the main character in my story, makes this for her boyfriend, Tauno, and his mom, Asta.
This is how my mom and my aunt taught me how to make gyoza.
Filling ingredients: cabbage, carrots, garlic, ginger, eggs.
I like ground pork. Get lean ground pork if you can find it. I got this from Marukai, a Japanese food market. This is .7 lbs.
Optional step if you don't want soupy filling is to put 1/4 cabbage in the food processor with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and then let it drain in a colander. I help it along after a few minutes by squeezing it down with a rubber spatula.
Food process the carrots, garlic cloves, peeled ginger and put in meat bowl.
Stir in the cabbage until everything is combined. Add one or two eggs, depending on how much filling you have so it sticks together while you spoon it onto the wrapper and so the vegetables stay together better after it's cooked.
Open your package of wrappers and pull one apart. Dip your finger in a little bowl of water.
Wet all around the edges. For the picture, I have the wrapper on a plate, but usually I hold it in my other hand.
Spoon filling in. Start small until you know the right amount. The gyoza are hard to fold if you put in too much filling.
Use all your fingers to hold the wrapper and filling like a taco. Pinch the end closed.
Push the wrapper on the thumb side over to the pinched end and squeeze again. Make sure the rest of the wrapper isn't touching.
Your fingers are ready for the next fold.
Keep doing folds on the front half of the wrapper.
Pinch in your last fold.
One lonely folded, uncooked gyoza with 7 folds. Auntie said 7 looks best and 5 is acceptable.
I fry 15 at a time in a 4 quart pot. I use vegetable (soybean) oil. Make sure your oil is hot before you start frying. You can check to see if the temperature is ready by putting the tip of a bamboo chopstick in the oil and if it bubbles, then the oil is right. If you don't know how to fry, read up on frying tips. I stir the gyoza around with the big bamboo chopsticks. The packages of wrappers come in 60, so if you fry 15 at a time you'll do 4 batches. Estimate 10 gyoza per person when planning for a meal.
All fried up. Crunchy and yummy! I wish you were over at my house. I place them on paper towels to drain.
These are the ingredients I put in the dipping sauce. The package is a sample of the wrappers. Sauce: soy sauce, roasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, chili oil and either squeeze of lemon or citron juice.
ENJOY!
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