Crispy golden bottoms, soft wrappers, and a juicy filling. Gyozas are super versatile and moreish.
Notes
Gyoza wrapping is quite fiddly. They don’t need to be perfect. They’ll get better the more practise you have.
The wrappers should be thin as if they’re too thick they won’t fold properly.
Make sure you dust everything with plenty of cornflour!
You can use turkey mince if you can’t get chicken mince. Chicken mince is available in the butchers.
You don’t have to pan fry the bottoms, you can directly steam them. They’re also good deep fried!
If you need any further help, or have any questions, you can message me on my Instagram @bonniedoesfood.
Ingredients:
(Makes around 40 gyoza)
Wrappers:
240g plain flour
½ tsp salt
140ml-150ml water
Cornflour for dusting
Filling:
500g chicken mince (you can use pork or turkey instead)
1 pack of fresh shiitake mushrooms (around 120g), finely chopped
3 spring onions, finely sliced
A small bunch of fresh chives, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely grated
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, finely grated
2 tsp sake
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 tsp light soy sauce
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp MSG (optional)
Dipping sauce:
4 tbsp rice vinegar
4 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
Vegetable oil for frying
Directions:
FOR THE FILLING:
In a medium bowl, add the chicken mince, mushrooms, spring onions, chives, garlic and ginger. Use chopsticks or a wooden spoon to stir until combined. Knead with your hands if you feel the ingredients aren’t evenly dispersed.
Add the sake, sesame oil, soy sauce, salt and MSG (if using). Stir until the seasonings are dispersed through the filling and the mix turns paler in colour.
Cover with clingfilm and set aside in the fridge whilst you make the wrappers.
FOR THE WRAPPERS:
Boil the kettle, measure out your water and stir in the salt to dissolve. Set aside to cool for a couple of minutes.
In a medium bowl, add the flour. Use chopsticks or a blunt knife to stir the hot water in little by little. You may not need the full 150ml.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead for around 10 minutes. It should be smooth and elastic.
Half the dough into two equal portions Roll both portions into long logs. Around 2 inches in diameter. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
Wrap the logs of dough in clingfilm and let rest for 30 minutes.
Sprinkle your work surface with cornflour. You will need to keep re-sprinkling the surface with cornflour throughout the process.
Unwrap one of the logs and cut into 12 pieces.
Take one of the 12 pieces, cover the remaining 11 with clingfilm so they don’t dry out.
Roll the piece into a ball and press gently onto the work surface. Use a rolling pin to gently press and roll into a rough circle. Remember you’re aiming for thin gyoza wrappers.
Use a 8cm biscuit cutter to cut out a circle. (I believe a large wine glass is this diameter!) I found when I was doing this the wrapper shrunk back a little once cut. So I rolled again slightly to make sure it was the correct size.
Dust the finished wrapper with cornflour and place onto a plate. This is very important as they will stick together if they are not dusted well enough. Cover the plate with clingfilm whilst you work on the other wrappers.
*Don’t waste the scraps! Gather them and put them under the clingfilm to stay moist. You can re-roll all the scraps into another log to make more gyozas.*
Repeat this process with the other 11 pieces.
Repeat this process with the other log of dough and the scraps. This is a time consuming process! It’s ok to give up and abandon the scraps (lol) but abandoning the scraps will result in 24 gyozas and you will have left over filling.
TO ASSEMBLE:
You can either fold the dumplings in your hand or on a surface. My preference is on a surface but I recommend trying both ways to see what works for you. They won’t be neat at first but you’ll get the hang as you go along.
Take a wrapper and place it in the palm of your non dominant hand, alternatively, place a wrapper on a work surface. Dip one finger in a bowl of water and wet the outer edge of the gyoza wrapper.
Place a scant teaspoon of filling in the centre of the wrapper. Remember it’s better to under fill than over fill. The more filling, the more likely the wrapper is to rip as you fold.
Using your dominant hand, fold the wrapper in half over the filling. Using your thumb and index finger, start making pleats across the dumpling. Folding and pressing to seal as you go. If this is confusing, refer back to my story highlight or watch a YouTube video so you can understand the process!
Place your finished gyoza on a plate, chopping board, or tray.
Repeat this process until you have all your gyoza.
FOR THE DIPPING SAUCE:
In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the dipping sauce.
TO COOK:
Heat the vegetable oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Working in batches, place the gyoza, flat side down in a circular shape around the pan.
Cook the gyoza until the bottoms turn golden brown, around 3 minutes.
Add 60 ml of water to the pan and immediately cover with a lid. Cook for 3 minutes.
Remove the lid to evaporate any remaining water and to crisp up the bottoms again.
Transfer to a plate and cook the remaining gyozas.
Serve with the dipping sauce, a scattering of sliced spring onions and chilli flakes.
Enjoy!