Gyoza

Last week was Chinese New Year. At Hannah's kinder the activities revolved around this. Lots of pretend dragons, lanterns and fire-crackers were made. She mentioned that they made Chinese dumplings. I quizzed her if they ate them, did they made real dumplings? It appears they did. She thought they were great and wanted more. I'd discovered gyoza a long time back and decided in lieu of knowing much about Chinese dumplings we'd try these together. It was a brilliant idea. Next time I'll know that I just have to measure the filling ingredients and leave my little cook to it.


250g ground pork
250g chopped, steamed cabbage
1 sping onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp ginger, grated
2 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
1-2 tsp sesame oil (optional - we don't use it)
1 tsp sake (optional)
1 package of gyoza skins - from an Asian grocery

Mix together, put 1 teaspoon of filling in each gyoza skin. Wet the edge of the pastry and fold over the filling. Ideally one side is given little pleats, so that one side is flat, the other rounded - but this is detail can be omitted depending on the skill of the cook.

Fry a few gyoza at a time til browned, then add a few tablespoons of water, put lid on and steam for about 5 minutes.

Dipping Sauce
3 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs lemon juice

Alternative Vegetarian Filling
Substitute an equivalent amount of celery (diced finely) together with shitake mushrooms (sliced and steamed) for the pork mince.