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Pork Gyoza
Serves 30 Prep 45 min Cook 10 min Total 55 min Type Meal Origin Japanese

Pork Gyoza

Pleated half-moon dumplings with a pork-and-cabbage filling, pan-fried crisp on one side and steamed on the other. Crisp-soft contrast in every bite. The Japanese take on Chinese jiaozi; smaller, garlickier, and almost always pan-fried.

Serves 30 Prep 45 minutes Cook 10 minutes Units Rate

Overview

A pork mince filling spiked with garlic, ginger, soy, sesame oil and finely chopped cabbage is wrapped in shop-bought gyoza skins, then pan-fried on the flat bottom and finished by steaming with a splash of water in the lidded pan. Serve with a soy-rice-vinegar-chilli oil dip.

Ingredients

Filling

  • 300 g pork mince
  • 200 g Chinese cabbage (very finely chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon salt (for the cabbage)
  • 3 garlic cloves (crushed)
  • 2 cm fresh ginger (grated)
  • 2 spring onions (very finely chopped)
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • ½ teaspoon white pepper

Wrappers and frying

  • 30 round gyoza wrappers (shop-bought, frozen aisle)
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 100 ml water (per batch)
  • A small bowl of water (for sealing)

Dipping sauce

  • 4 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon chilli oil (or rāyu)
  • 1 spring onion (sliced)

Method

Stage 1 - Filling

  1. Toss the chopped cabbage with the teaspoon of salt; leave 10 minutes.
  2. Squeeze the cabbage hard in your hands or a clean cloth to expel as much water as possible.
  3. Mix with all other filling ingredients until well combined.

Stage 2 - Wrap

  1. Hold a wrapper in your palm. Place a teaspoon of filling in the centre.
  2. Wet the rim of the wrapper with water using your finger.
  3. Fold the wrapper over the filling to make a half-moon, pleating one side as you press the edges together (about 5-6 pleats).
  4. Set on a tray; repeat. Don't let the filled gyoza touch each other or they'll stick.

Stage 3 - Pan-fry and steam

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat.
  2. Arrange about 15 gyoza in a circle in the pan, flat-side down.
  3. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the bottoms are deep golden.
  4. Add 100 ml water to the pan; immediately cover with a lid.
  5. Steam for 4-5 minutes until the water has evaporated and the wrappers look translucent.
  6. Uncover and cook another minute to re-crisp the bottoms.

Stage 4 - Serve

  1. Slide onto a plate, crisp-side up, in a circular pattern.
  2. Mix the dipping sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

Notes

  • Squeeze the cabbage: Wet cabbage = wet filling = soggy gyoza that split in the pan.
  • Crisp first, steam second: The browning gives the textural contrast; steaming cooks the pork through. Reverse the order and you lose the crust.
  • Freeze raw: Open-freeze pleated gyoza on a tray, then bag them. Cook from frozen with an extra minute of steam.

Storage

  • Cooked gyoza eat best immediately; soften within the hour.
  • Raw gyoza freeze 3 months. Cook from frozen.

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