Japanese – Gyoza

[MBMorgan]

Modified after a combination of America’s Test Kitchen (Cook’s Illustrated) and Just One Cookbook

Course: Appetizer (4-6 dumplings), Main Course (8-12 dumplings)
Cuisine: Asian, Japanese
Makes: 48 (4 dozen) dumplings
Takes: 4 ½ hours
Serve With: Japanese-style salad with ginger dressing
Special Tools: 3 ½ inch (90 mm) circle cutter for wrappers, long chopsticks or tongs for cooking, splatter screen/guard for frying



Ingredients using 1 lb. pork (amounts per dozen are shown in parentheses) – [OPTIONAL ingredients in italics and brackets]

Before You Begin

For dough that has the right hydration level, it’s strongly recommended that you weigh the flour and water. For an accurate measurement of boiling water, bring a kettle of water to a boil and then measure out the desired amount. To ensure that the dumplings seal completely, use minimal flour when kneading, rolling, and shaping so that the dough remains slightly tacky. Keep all the dough covered with a damp towel except when shaping. There is no need to cover the shaped dumplings.

In addition to the dough, filling, and dipping sauce ingredients, you’ll need

• Gyoza wrappers – either 1 pack (52 sheets) store-bought Japanese wrappers or make your own using the recipe below
• Vegetable oil for pan-frying: up to 15 ml, 1 TBSP per batch
• Warm water for steaming: up to 240 ml, 1 cup per batch
• Toasted sesame oil for final pan-frying: up to 10 ml, 2 tsp. per batch

Dough (67% hydration) (Note: To avoid developing gluten, do not refrigerate before making the dumplings.)

• 600 g (150 g/dozen dumplings) all-purpose flour
• 4 g (1 g/dozen dumplings) fine salt (not iodized, e.g., table or pickling salt)
• 400 g (100 g/dozen dumplings) boiling hot water (for accuracy, measure when just-boiled … not before)

Filling (can be prepared a day or two in advance, covered, and refrigerated (or carefully weighed and divided into dozen-sized batches, then vacuum sealed and frozen) until time to fill wrappers)

• 454 g, 1 lb. ground pork – Note: If using a food processer, you can grind your own in lieu of pre-ground.
• 227-255 g, 8-9 oz. Napa cabbage, rinsed, trimmed, large ribs removed, cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) pieces.
• 3.5 ml, ¾ tsp. fine salt (not iodized, e.g., pickling salt) to wilt chopped cabbage
• 3-4 scallions, medium chopped for food processor
• 2-4 shiitake or button mushrooms [OPTIONAL], fresh or reconstituted from dried, medium chopped for food processor. Substitute: 1 tsp dried porcini or shiitake mushroom powder.
• 1 medium-large clove garlic, medium chopped for food processor [OPTIONAL]
• 3.5 cm, 1½ inch fresh ginger, medium chopped for food processor [OPTIONAL]
• 20 ml, 4 tsp. vegetable oil – Makes up for lean, possibly dry pork

Seasonings for Filling

• 10 ml, 2 tsp. sake – Substitute: Dry sherry should be ok
• 10 ml, 2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
• 10 ml, 2 tsp. soy sauce
• 20 ml, 4 tsp. hoisin sauce [OPTIONAL]
• 2.5 ml, ½ tsp. Morton’s Kosher salt (½ tsp. Diamond Crystal Kosher, or 1/8 tsp. table salt)
• 2.5 ml, ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper (to taste) – Substitute: ground white pepper

Dipping Sauce (to make 120 ml (½ cup)) – 2:2:1 ratio of rice vinegar - soy sauce - sugar

• 60 ml, 4 TBSP rice vinegar
• 60 ml, 4 TBSP soy sauce
• 30 ml, 2 TBSP sugar, to taste
• 2.5 ml, ½ tsp. la-yu (Japanese chili oil) or [OPTIONAL] – for spicy heat

Method

For the Dough

1. Place flour and fine salt in food processor. Pulse a few times to mix.
2. With processor running, slowly add just-boiled water.
3. Process until the dough forms a ball and clears the sides of bowl, 30 to 45 seconds longer.
4. Transfer dough to the counter and knead until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Note: Flour on counter is not necessary
5. Wrap dough in plastic and let rest at room temperature on the counter for 30 minutes. Do NOT refrigerate.
6. While dough rests, scrape and clean the now-empty processor bowl and blade.

For the Filling (step 1: prepare the cabbage)

1. Place the washed and cut cabbage in processor and pulse until finely chopped, 8 to 10 pulses.
2. Scrape cabbage out of food processor and into medium bowl then stir or massage in fine salt; let sit for 10 minutes.
3. Using your hands, squeeze excess moisture from cabbage and set aside.

For the Filling (step 2: prepare meat mixture)

1. If grinding your own pork, it should be nearly frozen (approx. 20 min. in freezer) then cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes before grinding in the food processor.
2. Add the coarsely chopped scallions, [garlic], [ginger], [mushrooms], Morton’s Kosher salt, and ground pepper into the food processor. Pulse until finely chopped and well mixed. Scrape down sides of the bowl as needed.
3. Add the pork, soy sauce, sesame oil, vegetable oil, sake, and [hoisin sauce]. Pulse until the mixture is thoroughly blended and slightly sticky, about 10-12 pulses, scraping down the bowl as needed.
4. Add cabbage and [chopped mushrooms]; pulse until evenly distributed, about 8-10 pulses, scraping the bowl as needed.
5. Transfer pork mixture to a bowl and using rubber spatula, smooth the surface. Cover with plastic and refrigerate.

For the Wrappers

1. Lightly flour 1 or 2 rimmed baking sheets, optionally lined with parchment paper, and set aside. Unwrap dough and transfer to counter. If you’re careful, 1 large baking sheet should hold about 40 pieces of gyoza.
2. Divide the dough ball into smaller portions as needed. Roll the dough very thin and use 3.5” circle cutter to cut wrappers.
3. As each batch of wrappers is cut, gather extra dough and save, covered, to allow it to relax, then combine, knead, roll, and cut into the final batch for all remaining 3.5” wrappers. Cover disks with damp towel until ready to fill and fold. To avoid sticking, do not overlap disks. Avoid excessive flour that might interfere with sealing the dumplings.

Make the Dumplings (Filling and Folding)

1. Working with 1 wrapper at a time, place a 1-inch (2.5 cm) ball of filling in center of wrapper. Under-filling is better than over-filling. Note: Keep filling refrigerated and covered with plastic wrap until time to fill.
2. Before folding and sealing, brush away any flour or bits of filling clinging to surface of wrapper. NOTE: You may need to wet ¼ inch of the wrapper edge all around with water for crimping, especially if the wrappers are starting to dry out.
3. Simplified pleating: Lift the side of wrapper closest to you and the side farthest away and pinch together to form 1½ inch-wide seam in center of dumpling. (When viewed from above, dumpling will have rectangular shape with rounded open ends.) Bring left corner farthest away from you to center of seam and pinch to seal. Pinch together remaining dough on left side to seal. Repeat pinching on right side.
4. Gently press dumpling into crescent shape and transfer to prepared sheet. Crescent is on the opposite side from pleats.
5. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. There is no need to cover filled and folded dumplings.

To Make Ahead and Freeze

Freeze uncooked dumplings (uncovered) on lightly oiled or floured platter or rimmed baking sheet until solid. After about an hour in the freezer, move them around a bit to prevent sticking. Once hard-frozen, seal in freezer bag or vacuum seal for long storage.

To Pan-Fry (Note: To pan-fry frozen dumplings, do not thaw.) (Note: Heat too high is worse than too low.)

For each small 12-dumpling batch, use a 10” non-stick skillet with lid, you'll need:

• Oil: (fresh/frozen gyoza: 2 tsp vegetable oil for frying) plus (¾ - 1 tsp sesame oil for covered steaming)
• Water: (fresh gyoza: 1/3 cup) or (frozen: ½ cup) for steaming

For each large 20-dumpling batch, use a 12” non-stick skillet with lid, you'll need:

• Oil: (fresh/frozen gyoza: 1 TBSP vegetable oil for frying) plus (1 – 1½ tsp sesame oil for covered steaming)
• Water: (fresh gyoza: ½ cup) or (frozen: 2/3 cup) for steaming

1. Brush skillet with vegetable oil and heat until shimmering over medium heat.
2. For 12 gyoza: evenly space 10, flat sides down, around edge of hot 10” skillet and place 2 in center. For 20 gyoza: space 16 around edge of 12” skillet and place 4 in center.
3. Uncover – Cook over medium heat until bottoms begin to turn spotty brown: (fresh gyoza: 4-6 min.) or (frozen: 6-8 min.).
4. Off heat, carefully add water (water will sputter badly). Use a glove when adding water and a splatter screen for frying.
5. Return to heat and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over medium-low heat: (fresh gyoza: 6-8 min.) or (frozen: 10-12 min.).
6. Uncover – increase heat to med-high and drizzle sesame oil around edge of pan. Cook until water has evaporated and bottoms are crispy and browned: (fresh gyoza: 5-8 min.) or (frozen: 12-15 min.).  Internal temp. above 160° F (71° C).
7. To cook additional batch(es), first let skillet cool for 10 minutes then rinse under cool water and wipe dry. Repeat the pan-frying process with additional vegetable oil and dumplings as many times as necessary.
8. Keep dumplings warm in a 165° F (74° C) oven, uncovered, until ready to serve. Serve hot, browned sides up.

[Willy]

Thanks for this--GREAT write-up full of detail! One question: why do you specify non-iodized salt? I see this often with pickling and canning recipes, cuz the iodine leads to discoloration, but in this application, I can't wrap my head around it.

[MBMorgan]

Hey Willy ... I generally specify non-iodized by habit (I use Kosher for coarse grains and pickling salt for fine). In this case it has nothing to do with the recipe itself ... just habit on my part.

[Willy]

Thanks, MBMorgan.

[Willy]

What would you think about using a KA pasta roller?

[MBMorgan]

That should work fine. The dough is the most forgiving stuff you’ve ever worked with.

[fzxdoc]

Nice writeup. Thanks! That photo makes me want to make some right this minute.

Kathryn

[shify]

Nice write-up. Started making my own pork dumplings a few weeks ago. One was pork and scallion and the next was pork and Chinese chive. Both time used store bought gyoza wrapper and they turned out really well but am itching to make my own dough. Was always worried about the time thinking I’d roll out each individual wrapper one at a time but the roll and cut makes sense. Might pull the trigger on the homemade dough once I run through the leftover dumplings in the freezer.

[MBMorgan]

This dough is unbelievably easy ... you don't even need to flour your work surface. The trick here is to do everything possible to avoid gluten formation so that it doesn't want to pull back on itself while you're shaping those little dumplings.

[58limited]

Thanks for this! I played around with gyoza a lot last fall, love them. I'll give your version a try - I didn't try Hoisin in mine.

[MBMorgan]

The hoisin adds so much more flavor that it's really become mandatory when I make gyoza these days ... same for the dried 'shrooms ... and a bit of garlic also, for that matter.

[Troutman]

Wife makes a Filipino version of these and they are dynamite. I'll let her handle the dirty work!! Nice write up and recipe MBMorgan. We do the hoisin and dried shitakes as well.

[JimLinebarger]

WOW!!

[Willy]

Thanks for this, MB! Gyoza/potstickers/Asian dumplings have been on my "bucket list" for a long time and your post inspired me to finally make 'em. Really, really good and a bit easier than I expected. I used some store bought wrappers (see, I really did intend to make 'em, LOL) that I had on hand, but will make the wrappers per your recipe next time. For dipping sauces, I used homemade nuoc cham and Thai sweet chile sauces, both of which are "always" in my fridge. FWIW, my Thai sauce is simply 1 part vinegar (white or rice wine), 1 1/2 to 2 parts plain white sugar, and chile flakes/bottled hot sauce to taste. Heat vinegar and sugar on low just until the sugar is dissolved, then add the chile. Easy to also add chopped chives, minced garlic, scallions, etc. if'n you want. DO NOT heat the vinegar/sugar mixture too long, elsewise you'll have sweet vinegar taffy. No need to ask me how I know this. LOL

There is left over filling (and wrappers), so...gyoza again tonight. YumO!

Thanks again, mucho!

[MBMorgan]

You're quite welcome, Willy. Glad your 1st attempt worked out so well. FWIW, we typically make a whole batch, eat a few that night, then freeze the rest (uncovered to prevent frost from forming). Once they're frozen solid, I vacuum pack them in 1-dozen batches then back into the freezer they go until needed. Believe it or not, cooking them from frozen/raw works out just as well (if not better) as cooking them freshly made. Hmmmm ... which reminds me ... it's time to put up another batch.

[harveydom]

Thanks for the recipe!

[Spinaker]

Wow! Impressive! Thank you for taking the time to share this with us.