Make perfect gyoza on your Hokkaido holiday

This is the perfect simple holiday recipe to cook whilst staying in one our cosy accommodations! It is easy to find the ingredients in any supermarket in winter in Hokkaido and it is quick and easy to make the perfect Gyoza! The kids will love helping you for a real Japanese cuisine experience or impress your mates and serve with a delicious Sapporo Beer!

Find the original recipe here and watch the full instructional video here!

Calories: (12 servings) 458kcal in total

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes (not including the time to let the dough rest)

Ingredients

Gyoza skins: 30 pieces (buy ready made or make your own – video recipe here)
Minced pork: 150g
Cabbage: 150g
Onions: 50g Chinese
Chives: 5 pieces Grated
Ginger: 1/2 piece

Salt: 1/3 teaspoon
Soy sauce: 1 teaspoon
Oyster sauce: 1 teaspoon
Sugar: 1 teaspoon
Sake: 2/3 tablespoon
Pepper: a little

Sesame Oil: 2/3 Sesame Oil

Method

1. Heat the cabbage in a bowl without plastic wrap in a microwave oven at 500W for 3 minutes.

2. Coarsely chop the cabbage.

3. Finely chop the onion.

4. Combine the cabbage and onion and wrap them in paper towel. Squeeze out any excess water. This stops the dumplings from becoming soggy.

5. Cut the chives into 5mm width. You don’t need to squeeze the water out of the chives.

6. Add salt to the minced meat and knead well with your hands. It is important to knead the meat well before adding the vegetables. Adding salt and kneading works on the myosin protein in the meat to create a network structure for moisture retention and stickiness. This is a super important step as the dumplings won’t be soggy but the meat will be juicy.

7. Add the seasoning (salt, soy sauce, sugar, sake and pepper) and continue to knead well until it does not come apart even if you lift it and shake it lightly.

8. Add the vegetables to the meat.

9. Further add the grated garlic and ginger – mix just lightly.

10. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours. This will make the mixture moist and juicy. It also has the effect of making it firmer and easier to wrap in the gyoza skins.

11. The simple way to fold the gyoza is just to pinch the sides together. However if you want to be a gyoza master then check out these folding videos: folding side one & folding side two.

12. Arrange the dumplings in a Teflon frying pan so that they do not stick to each other. 2 rows of 6 (12) is just right if the inner diameter of your frying pan is around 17cm.

13 Pour 80cc of boiling water to the pan. Aim for a height of about 5mm in the pan. If you add more than this the baked skin will be soggy.

14. Cover and cook for 3 minutes on high heat.

15. When the water has gone, remove the lid and pour 2/3 tablespoons of sesame oil into the empty space (do not put directly on the gyoza).

16. Cover again and cook for a further 1.5-2 minutes. It is also important to move the frying pan while cooking so that the dumplings do not stick.

17. Turn off the heat and remove when the bottom of the gyoza is crispy and golden brown.

18. Arrange on a plate, sprinkle with chives and serve with your favourite soya or dumpling sauce!