Recipe: Gyoza and Dumplings, Meat and Veggie!
So I must begin by apologizing profusely for the massive hiatus that I have been on. A lot has transcended in the past few months, but now school is over and I am currently sitting at the front desk of my dorm building working a 4-hour shift in order to hang around until commencement. I've honestly been putting off writing more blogs because I haven't had the time or the motivation, and I've really really missed cooking but I'm heading back to Taiwan next week for a month - so thank GOD.
Dumplings are one of my favorite foods. They are easy to cook and even easier to eat. This is only the second time in my life I had hand wrapped dumplings, so if you see any horrendously disfigured dumplings in my pictures, know that they are mine. Fletcher, with his beautifully dainty hands, did much better than I did.
We did a batch with ground pork, and a batch with mushrooms for a vegetarian option. We then boiled half of each and fried half of each. Variety comes easily when you work with dumplings. Dumplings are good.
[Handwrapped Gyoza/Dumplings]
Ingredients
Pork Dumplings
• 1 package of dumpling skins
• 1 lb. ground pork, preferably with a 70-30 meat to fat ratio
• 1 spring onion, finely minced
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1 Tbsp. of grated ginger
• 2 Tbsp. of sesame oil
• 3 Tbsp. of rice wine and/or rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup of soy sauce
• 1 tsp. white pepper
Veggie Dumplings
• 1 package of dumpling skins
• 1 lb. of mixed mushrooms (we used 6 oyster mushrooms, 6 fresh shiitakes, and 6 button mushrooms)
• 1 spring onion, finely minced
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1 Tbsp. of grated ginger
• 2 Tbsp. of sesame oil
• 3 Tbsp. of rice wine and/or rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup of soy sauce
• 1 tsp. white pepper
• 1 bowl of water for dipping
Optional: crack 1 egg into each mix to hold things together
So Fletcher and I like mushrooms. We like mushrooms a lot. For some reason in Oshkosh you can find fresh shiitake mushrooms, which is something that NEVER HAPPENS. So we decided to get shiitake mushrooms and oyster mushrooms for our vegetarian options, and then we popped in some button mushrooms just as a filler.
As a rule of thumb I don't wash mushrooms. Sometimes I do it when I get lazy, but I usually just give them a good brushing/wiping off before I cook them. So just finely mince the mushrooms by julienning them one way and then chopping them the other.
Try not to eat all the shiitake mushrooms before you use all of them. Raw shiitake mushrooms are beautifully fragrant and have the texture of a candy cloud, so Fletch and I kept snacking on them as we were prepping the ingredients.
Do not do this. It is way too addictive.
Clean off the spring onions, and finely mince them. Fletcher and I are also both very fond of spring onions. Yes, I get it. I talk about us a lot, but we were best friends for 9 years before we finally met and I want to talk about it. Deal. Some recipes also call for salting the spring onions first to bring out the moisture so not too much released is later on. This will keep the dumpling from separating and breaking. This would not be good.
For a lot of the prep, we just did things in large quantity then split it in half. If you're making both batches simultaneously I suggest you do that as well. Brings about a sense of unity.
Also grate some ginger and mince some garlic to throw into the mix. Dump it all into a large bowl.
This is the vegetarian gyoza mix. Just dump everything in the bowl and mix around. Fletcher and I have agreed that chopsticks are the best mixing tools for dumplings. It's easier to mix the veggie mix because everything is looser, but that is a double-edged blade because later on it makes the dumplings more difficult to wrap.
The solution we found was to saute the veggie mix first, because the salt in the soy sauce kept driving the liquid out of the mushrooms, so we cooked it out preemptively. Ha. Take that. This way the mix was oiled and more cohesive, but not too wet to work with.
Don't worry about the dumpling being dry if you have a good fat ratio in there, because it will render out as it cooks. Although they were a little dry in our case and I wonder if the added egg might have caused that because eggs stiffen as they cook, but I guess we'll never know.
Once both the mixtures are set to go, open your package of pre-made dumpling skins and lament the fact that you're not enough of a traditional Asian to make your own dough. Then once you're done having your identity crisis, place a small bowl of water for dipping and get ready to wrap as if your life depended on it. Though in our case our life kind of actually did depend on it because we were extremely hungry and could not eat until this process was finished.
Place a dumpling skin in your hand, scoop a spoonful of mix into the center, dip a finger into the water bowl and trace it around the edge to help it stick, then crimp and fold the edges together. If you put too much mix it will overflow as you are crimping and it will look like you have a dumpling with proud flesh.
Don't look that up if you don't know what that means.
As you are working through your batches, cover the dumpling skins with a clean, damp rag or paper towel to keep the dough from drying out. Otherwise it will crack and be rendered useless as you are wrapping. This will also happen if you are using dumpling skins that have been sitting around in your freezer for too long, as is the case here.
Or rather, your gay ex-husband's freezer. I don't have a freezer because I don't have a fridge. My dorm room is very plain. This is also why the only alcohol I have is whiskey.
So just crimp and pinch your way through the mix, preferably separating the two different mixes as you plate them. We didn't do this, and thankfully neither of us have a dietary restriction, so it was almost like a lottery when we were eating.
It's kind of like when you bite into an oatmeal raisin cookie thinking it's a chocolate chip cookie. Or when you sip a carbonated drink thinking it was a non-carbonated drink. Okay, maybe not the second one, because it's actually quite alarming. I once took a huge sip of a friend's coke thinking it was iced tea and nearly spat it back out because I was not expecting it.
But our dumpling roulette was nowhere as unpleasant. Because both were delicious.
To fry, heat up some oil in a pan, and place the gyoza firmly in the pan. I mean actually kinda mush them so they get planted onto the pan standing up on their own. Traditionally, you're supposed to line them up so they're all touching and then add in a flour type mixture, but honestly it doesn't matter that much. I tried to explain the concept of it to a friend over dinner the other night, and I just ended up sounding really delusional and overly descriptive about something that was absolutely insignificant. Which I guess is how I deal with every aspect of my life, really....
ANYWAYS.
Once all the dumplings are in the pan, let them sear for a bit then add in some water and then cover with a lid. This helps gets things all steamy as the dumplings sear up. It's the same idea as searing and then steaming hamburger patties. Let that go until the bottoms are all browned and crispy.
If you're opting for a non-seared option (aka, boiled) just plop the dumplings into a pot of boiling water one by one, give it a stir to make sure the skins aren't sticking together, and then let that go until they've floated to the top. Then just remove them from the water, making sure to drain well, and put on a plate.
Once everything is done and delicious, just plate it all up and then serve with accompanying soy sauce. Don't think to just do boring old soy sauce, too. You can jazz up your soy sauce by adding any of these following ingredients with varying combinations and degrees of enthusiasm:
• minced garlic
• minced green onions
• black vinegar
• rice vinegar
• sesame oil
• chilis
• chili paste
• finely julienned ginger
and honestly whatever else you can think of.
Fletcher and I also threw together some side dishes to accompany. I made Taiwanese pickles with garlic and he made a nice carrot kinpira. We then washed it all down with a LOT of wine and beer whilst watching Studio Ghibli films and musicals.
Just the proper way to eat dumplings, you know.
Here's the handy printable and the step-by-step.
Ingredients
Pork Dumplings
• 1 package of dumpling skins
• 1 lb. ground pork, preferably with a 70-30 meat to fat ratio
• 1 spring onion, finely minced
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1 Tbsp. of grated ginger
• 2 Tbsp. of sesame oil
• 3 Tbsp. of rice wine and/or rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup of soy sauce
• 1 tsp. white pepper
Veggie Dumplings
• 1 package of dumpling skins
• 1 lb. of mixed mushrooms (we used 6 oyster mushrooms, 6 fresh shiitakes, and 6 button mushrooms)
• 1 spring onion, finely minced
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1 Tbsp. of grated ginger
• 2 Tbsp. of sesame oil
• 3 Tbsp. of rice wine and/or rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup of soy sauce
• 1 tsp. white pepper
• 1 bowl of water for dipping
1.) Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl
2.) Sauté the veggie ingredients and drain before wrapping
3.) Take dumpling wrapper in hand and place roughly a tablespoon of filling in the center
4.) Dab some water on edges and the fold the dumpling skin over, crimping as you go
5.) To fry the dumplings, oil a pan and place dumplings firmly into the pan
6.) Let dumplings sear for about a minute and then add about 1/4 cup of water and cover with a lid
7.) Steam and sear until bottoms are brown and crispy and serve
8.) To boil dumplings, simply bring water to boil, and gently drop dumplings in
9.) Stir to ensure there is no sticking and let cook until dumplings float
10.) Serve with soy sauce or any mixture of condiments
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