Tips

• Method: gyoza can be pan fried, steamed, or cooked in soup. For an authentic taste, combine pan frying & steaming to create juicy dumplings with gyoza hane (a crispy papery crust that forms during cooking). Make sure to use a frying pan that has a lid or cover.

• Dipping Sauce: a simple dipping sauce is made with soy sauce and rice vinegar. But it's worth spending an extra 5-10 minutes to make a delicious homemade Japanese chili oil (rayu) dipping sauce.

Ingredients

Gyoza

Choose from a selection of frozen gyoza or gyoza/dumpling wrappers at KAWA:

• 12 x Pork Gyoza or
• 12 x Vegetarian gyoza or
• 12 x Shrimp gyoza or
• 12 x Duck gyoza or
• 12 x Gyoza wrappers (to make your own filling)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 tsp flour or cornstarch (optional)
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil (optional)

Rayu Dipping Sauce

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2-3 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped green onion
• 1-2 slices of fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup chopped dry chilli peppers, chilli pepper flakes, or ichimi togarashi (depending on the amount of heat you prefer)
• 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 5 tsp soy sauce
• 3-4 tsp rice vinegar (depends on your taste preference)

Instructions

Rayu Dipping Sauce

1. Heat vegetable oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add minced garlic, chopped green onion, and slices of ginger. Simmer and stir for 3 minutes until ingredients turn golden.
2. Turn to low heat. Add chopped dry chilli pepper or chilli flakes or ichimi togarashi. Cook for 3 minutes stirring occasionally.
3. Remove from heat and add 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil. Mix to combine. And let cool.
4. Once it has cooled down, strain into a small glass jar. Congratulations, you just made Rayu - Japanese flavoured chilli oil! Sealed, it will keep for 2-3 weeks.
5. To finish the dipping sauce for gyoza, all you have to do is mix 5 tsp of soy sauce, 4 tsp of rice vinegar, and 1 tsp of rayu together in a dipping bowl.

Gyoza

1. Preheat a non-stick pan over high heat for 2-3 minutes. When the pan is hot, add 1 Tbsp vegetable oil. Make sure to coat the pan with the oil, you can use a ball of paper towel to spread it over the surface.
2. While the pan is heating up, add 1 1/2 tsp of flour or cornstarch to 1/4 cup boiling water. Set aside. You will use this mixture to make a crispy papery crust called hane.
3. Add the frozen gyoza (flat-side down/seam-side up) one at a time to the frying pan. Spread them out in the shape of a circle (or sun). Fry for 10-30 seconds until the gyoza is slightly brown on the bottom.
4. Quickly pour the 1/4 cup of boiling water or the hane mixture over the gyoza and cover the pan tightly. Cook for 3-4 minutes.
5. Uncover the pan. Add 1 tbsp sesame oil to make the bottom of the gyoza turn crisp and golden brown. Cook for another minute or until the water has evaporated.
6. Turn off heat. Use a thin spatula to transfer the gyoza to a serving plate. The gyoza should be served seam side down so that you can see the lovely crispy browned bottoms of the dumplings.
7. Serve. Dip the gyoza in the dipping sauce. Enjoy!