Gyoza is a firm favourite of mine – there’s something oddly therapeutic about making them, and I’ve always loved how they turn out nice and golden after cooking. You can use whatever you want for the filling, which makes experimenting with flavours and ingredients so much fun! I prefer beef to chicken myself, but I couldn’t find ground beef in my local supermarket (the shelves were so empty…) and so I ended up making chicken ones.
The recipe I used is based on the Chicken Mushroom Gyoza recipe from No Recipes. I love No Recipes because while some believe that cooking is a science, I’ve always gone with my gut feelings. Measurements don’t really mean much to me – unless you’re baking, because baking is an actual science and it’s really hard to get by with gut feelings alone – and it’s fun to experiment and see how correctly I gauge things. Marc Matsumoto, if you’re reading this, I love your blog! I’ve tried out several other recipes from him and they turn out really nice! Highly recommended.
Onwards to the actual recipe!
For the filling, you’ll need:
- 1 small onion, roughly diced
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
- 1/4 cup chicken stock (about 1/2 cube in 1/4 cup of water)
- 350 grams of ground chicken
- 12 grams ginger, finely minced (about half the size of your thumb)
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon potato starch
- sesame oil, salt, and pepper to taste
These make about 45 gyoza pieces, depending on how generous you are with the filling.
Ingredients in bold are the same no matter what kind of gyoza you’re making – pork, chicken, beef, shrimp, what have you. I added garlic to mine because you can’t go wrong with garlic, and they serve as a mellow complement to the zingy ginger taste. While all the other ingredients are finely minced, I roughly diced the onions to give the filling a nice crunchy texture in addition to the ground chicken. Experiment with different ingredients and textures and see what works for you.
What you need to do:
- Saute onions and garlic in a pan until tender. Take off heat and mix thoroughly with chicken stock, transfer to a bowl, then leave to cool to room temperature.
- Once the mixture is cooled, add ground chicken, ginger, oyster sauce, sesame oil, potato starch, salt, and pepper. Mix well, either with your hands or with a spoon.
You can get gyoza wrappers in the supermarket pretty easily. Some call them dumpling pastries, some say gyoza wrappers, others say potsticker skins, it doesn’t matter as long as you don’t pick up the ones called spring roll skins. Those are different.
How to make gyoza:
- Put the gyoza wrapper in the flat of your palm. Place a bit of the filling in the center of the wrapper.
- Wet the edges of the wrapper liberally with water so they’ll stick together, then fold the wrapper in half.
- Pleat the edges of the wrapper together, making sure it’s completely sealed, to make one gyoza.
How to cook gyoza:
- Heat some oil in a pan. When the oil is sufficiently heated, arrange the gyoza in the pan so that they don’t stick to each other.
- Fry the gyoza for about 2-3 minutes, then add enough water to cover the gyoza halfway and quickly cover them with a lid.
- Steam the gyoza until the water’s dried up, and leave to fry for an additional 2-3 minutes or until the bottom of the gyoza is golden and crispy.
Gyoza are well-loved because of their unique texture: deliciously crispy at the bottom and wonderfully soft everywhere else coupled with tender and flavourful filling. That’s why it’s best to make sure the bottom is fried to golden perfection for maximum enjoyment.
In the United States, gyoza are called potstickers because unless you’re using a non-stick pan, the gyoza will be bonded eternally to the bottom of your pan. They will stick to the bottom of your pan like they’re superglued together, and that can be one hell of pain to deal with so please ensure that you’re using a non-stick pan when making your gyoza.
So there you have it – a simple recipe for chicken gyoza. Leave a comment if you try it for yourself, I’d love to know how it turns out!
Bergamot And Vanilla 