If ever I asked “Where shall we go for dinner?” when we lived in Tokyo, F was sure to answer “Gyoza Party.” Actually, he often suggested it even when I hadn’t asked. Like, daily.
In fact though, Gyoza Party (yes, I did intend for that to be capitalised) is less a place, than a state of mind. Gyoza Party is a happy place, a place where an endless parade of gyoza magically appear within chopstick range, dip themselves delicately in the shouyu, vinegar and chilli oil and insinuate themselves gently between your lips, only to explode in an orgy of garlicky porkiness.
There was such a place near where we lived in Shimokitazawa; a noisy place full of steam, smoke and Japanese workmen with their soft split-toed shoes, but the good news for F is, Gyoza Party can be recreated at home.
I know dumplings seem like one of those things that are too much of a hassle to bother with but when you see them lined up on your plate, all steamy without and juicy within and you’re transported to Gyoza Party, it will all be worth it. Besides which, it actually only takes about 3 minutes to make the filling and if you go production line style, you can pump out as many gyoza as your little hearts desire in a jiffy.
Where’s your happy place?
Gyoza
I think like every other Japanese kid, I’ve eaten gyoza for as long as I can recall but when we went to stay with my lovely friend Yuko, she made them for us at home, which was a first. It made me realise that’s it’s actually a cinch. You can use garlic, but if you can find nira, a.k.a. garlic chives, all the better. They are long and flat and you should be able to find them in Asian markets – you’ll probably have to buy the gyoza skins at one anyway. You’ll want the round white skins, not the square yellow wonton skins, and they’re usually in the frozen section.
All you need to remember is that a gyoza has 3 sides – the front with the pinched folds, the back which looks blank and the bottom which is fat and flat enough for it to sit on without rolling (that will be the crunchy bit) and you need to make sure it’s watertight or the juices will run out when it’s cooking.
For the dipping sauce
Shouyu, rice vinegar and chilli oil in a ratio of about 3:1:1
For the filling
200 grams pork mince
A knob of ginger, very finely chopped or grated – save the juice! (I used a microplane here so there would be no stringy bits)
Two spring onions, finely sliced
Either 2 cloves of crushed garlic OR a bunch of nira, finely chopped
2 tablespoons shouyu (Japanese soy sauce)
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
A sprinkle of white pepper if you have it
Plus about 30 gyoza skins
Mix it all up (except the skins, obviously) and leave for an hour.
Set up the production line: get a couple of big plates, a small ramekin of cold water and a teaspoon per person, the skins and the filling.
Take a surprisingly small amount of filling with a teaspoon, place it in the middle of a skin, dip your finger in the water and run a damp half-circle around the skin.
Fold the skin in half, pinching the top middle firmly.
Make 2 folds on either side of the middle pinch which face toward it. Repeat on the other side.
Sit the gyoza on the plate, pressing it a bit so the bottom gets flattened.
Repeat until all the filling or all the skins are gone.
Heat a non-stick or very well-seasoned frypan (believe me, this helps later because these bad boys are *desperate* to stick and it will end in tears) over medium heat and prepare a glass with 80ml water in it. Keep a lid handy.
Pour in *just*enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan evenly.
Quickly place all the gyoza in the pan and leave until the bottoms are browned, shaking gently to avoid sticking.
Carefully (it might spit) throw in the water and put the lid on. Steam for about 3 minutes, shaking a few times, and then remove the lid and allow the rest of the water, if any, to evaporate.
Scrape the bottoms from the pan with the thinnest metal spatula you have to loosen and invert the gyoza onto a plate so the brown side is up.
For best results serve with rice, the dipping sauce and a cold Sapporo beer.
Leave a comment, make my day!
yay, gyoza party! another yum filling (i found) was ground chicken with shiso leaf and camembert cheese! a little different twist on your usual gyoza.
Oooh, yum, will have to try a version with Austrian cheese.
by the way…what kind of camera are you using?
The one Flo gave to his dad the Chrimbo before last – he bought it in Japan. It’s called a Canon EOS 450D and it’s a DSLR. We’ve hijacked it.
I signed up to be email notified but haven’t…
Have you get some setting set?
I can get them and so can Flo…Maybe it’s in your spam?
Nice photos Mr. Flo
Cancel that get-some setting. It was just that I hadn’t verified the subscription. I wish I was staying at your guys house.
Ah. Mr. Technology strikes again ;P
Wish you guys could come and stay at our guys’ house too.
Mmmmmm dericious! Gyoza King has closed down in NZ, sadface. No more 24hr pork ramen with spicy miso and green onion dumplings. Keep up the pics Flo, small depth of field and implied circles seem to be working. More soon
Closed down!? Why? Not enough custom?
I absolutely love gyoza and therefore must make some homemade ones. I haven’t yet seen gyoza wraps, must do some search into making my own! You’ve made yours really neatly, often when I make parcels of things I make the fatal mistake of putting too much filling in making it burst in cooking!!
I never thought of making the skins but I’m sure you could, especially if you got a bit of a team going to do it together.
You had me after “garlicky porkiness”. I LOVE IT! Can’t recall reading that anywhere else. That could be a good enough title for a page about making gyoza I reckon! Ok… I’ve calmed down now. So thanks for posting an interesting article about the recipe. I’m off to cook up an “orgy of garlicky porkiness.” Sorry! Sorry! Had to write it again. Deeeelish!!!
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