Ever since we got home from Tokyo my husband has been desperate to make gyoza.

Gyoza are little dumplings made with pork mince and fried and man are they delicious. I have to admit that Nick is definitely the cook in our family (well he is a food writer) and so you’ll notice that all the photos feature his hands. However, having watched him make them, they really didn’t seem that difficult.

Unfortunately we made these for dinner so the lighting for the photos wasn’t great but hopefully you get the idea.

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Gyoza recipe

- 1 pack of Gyoza (chinese dumpling wrappers)

- 1 small carrot (grated)

- 2 mushrooms (grated)

- 250g minced pork

- 2 cloves garlic (grated/crushed)

- 1 tablespoon soy sauce

- 1.5 tablespoons sesame oil

- salt to season

1. Grate the carrot, mushrooms & garlic into a bowl.

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2. Add the pork mince, soy sauce & sesame oil. Mix all the ingredients together. (You might need to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty at this point)

3. Place a small teaspoon of the mixture in centre of each dumpling wrapper.

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4. Using your finger, brush round edges with water. Fold neatly in half, sealing the edges, ensuring all the filling is tightly sealed within.Try and pleat the edges if you can.

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Clik here to view.Image may be NSFW.
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Clik here to view.5. Cook in batches (depending on how many you can get to lay flat in your pan). Heat some sesame oil in a deep pan (make sure the pan has a lid or a plate you can use as a make-shift lid). Add the gyoza carefully and fry for 2 – 3 minutes until crispy & golden.

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6. Add 150ml water to pan & immediately put lid on top – this will make it spit a lot – leave lid on for 5 minutes. If you have a glass lid, even better because you can keep an eye on them easier. By doing this, you stop the frying and the gyoza now start to part-boil, part-steam.

7. After 3-5 minutes, take the lid off and let the water boil down to the point where they’re frying again. Remove, drain & serve. Don’t worry if all the water hasn’t boiled off, just remove with a slotted spoon. Serve with little dishes of dipping sauce/chili oil.

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