for real this time! YUMMY!!! 餃子 Gyoza (potsticker dumplings)

A few people have asked me about my burn... thank you for your well wishes! It's about half healed now! And to as what I was doing when I burned myself...

I was making gyoza! Gyoza are Japanese dumplings filled with pork & vegetables. I think they are similar to Jiaozi in Chinese cuisine, since the characters are the same - 餃子. Please forgive me if I'm wrong!

The finished product!!

I had some of the stuffing left over from the previous time I made them, which I had frozen. Yeah, actually I just ran out of gyoza skins last time hahahaha.

The stuffing contains ground pork, minced cabbage, and grated ginger (REALLY important to get rid of the porky smell!!!). I also add some soy sauce to mine. Typically, people add chopped nira (garlic chives) but since I put them in my bento... um, I don't want people around me to say I have stinky breath!!!

I used the "regular" size gyoza wrappers. Since I crimp my gyozas closed, I can usually only put like a teaspoon of filling inside. If you just close them, you'll be able to get about 1.5 teaspoons of filling in.

Oh, and the crimping? It's not difficult, it just takes some practice. My practice comes from helping my mother from a young age...

But I never helped my mother to pan fry them, so I used to be HORRIBLE at this!!! I was never sure how to do it!

Preheat your frying pan and put a bit of oil inside.
Put the gyoza in the frying pan, and add some water so that the bottom of the gyoza is submerged. Put the lid on and cook the gyoza on low heat until the water is gone.
They are cooked through if the skins are translucent.

Then drizzle some oil around the edges of the pan and spread it around - this is what helps to make a crunchy bottom and to make sure they don't stick to the pan!

I'm not good with non-stick pans and I'm not sure if cooking spray works for the last part!


YUMMY!!!!

I like making these because they keep well in the freezer and I can just pop a few into my bento.

What is your favorite recipe to make? What do you usually eat for lunch?