Making gyoza from scratch! 🥟 Super easy recipe 😋

Hi everyone! What are you up to today? ✨️ You guys already know what I’ve been doing judging by the title of this post! 🤣 The other evening I made gyoza using a Japanese cookbook my aunt got me for Christmas and they turned out awesome! So, seeing as I can’t get them off my mind, I decided to dedicate a blog post to them! 🥟 (I’m not sure if this emoji is gyoza or not but we’ll just pretend for the sake of it 😁).

The cookbook I recieved is called Japaneasy by Tim Anderson and the recipe was incredibly simple, it just took a good amount of time but you’ve gotta suffer for your art! 😩😂 I’ve never made gyoza before, I don’t even know if I’ve considered it in the past but when I flicked through the book I got excited to give the recipe a go as it sounded like fun and the ingredients were things we already had!

Ingredients

• Oil
• Soy sauce, vinegar &/or chilli oil to serve

For the wrappers:

• 280g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 120ml just-boiled water

For the filling:

• 500g minced pork
• 1/2 leak (I used spring onions)
• 2cm ginger finely chopped
• 6-10 garlic cloves finely chopped
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper (I used black, it says white is better but ours smells off so I used initiative 😏🤣)

Method

To start out I sieved the flour and salt into a bowl. I gradually added the water and mixed with a spatula until it all came together and then I got my hands in there to make it into a solid entity 👽 I sound like an alien trying to explain cooking! 🤣 Then I dusted the worktop with cornflour and kneaded the dough.

Next I rolled the dough out into two logs (about 3cm in diameter), wrapped them in cling film and popped them in the fridge for an hour. When they were ready I chopped them into 1cm pieces (I was meant to get 20 out of each log and I got 21 so I was hyped 😆🤣). Moving on, I shaped each piece into a ball and rolled them out into thin flat discs. Stacking them up into a pile was cool as I got to see all the effort I’d put in right there infront of me!

Separately, in a bowl I mixed the minced pork, spring onions (as I had no leek), ginger, garlic and the salt and pepper until everything was fully incorporated.

I laid out gyoza wrappers and spooned a small amount of the pork mixture onto each one before dipping my finger in water to wet the outside of each circle. I then sealed over the gyozas, pinching the edges and I attempted some stylish closures but as time went on and it was getting late, my only mission was to get them sealed whichever way so that we could be closer to dinner instead of midnight! 😅🤣

I heated a tablespoon of avocado oil on a medium to high heat and fried a third of the gyozas (as there were so many!), not flipping them over, just letting them gain their crisp undersides. I did that for 5 minutes before pouring in 50mls of water and covering the pan with a plate (use a lid if you have one) and leaving them to steam which took another 5 minutes. To make sure they’re cooked they should feel firm to touch or you should see through them that the meat is a pale grey. Now it was nom nom time 🤤 with a little bit of light soy sauce mixed with rice wine vinegar of course! 😍 (oh it just gets better and better! 🤣).

They were a success and didn’t last long in my house I’ll tell you that! The first batch was munched between my mum and I and I bought some into the rooms my dad and sister were in. It was a real family affair! Some of them split open or sections stuck to the pan (non stick my 🤬🤣) but the majority were fine and none went to waste. I had to stop myself from eating the next batches as I wanted to properly be able to enjoy my dinner with some hunger still in me 🤭.

This definitely won’t be the last time I make them and it’s good to know that I can simply use the rice paper circles you see in stores and really get creative with fillings in the future instead of making the dough again if we’re stuck for time! 🕙

If you’re looking for a super easy recipe for gyoza then this post should be the new friend you suck up to 😗🤣. Let me know if you try out the recipe! 🫡

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Do you like to eat gyoza? After all is said and done, it’s actually never been a favourite of mine. I’ve had moments were I’ve had it for dinner but I wouldn’t crave it. Seeing the recipe in the cookbook and thinking of making my own sparked something in me and I’m so glad I trusted in the fact that my mind could be brought round to the idea!

I have another question for you! 🤔 Do you like to cook? If you do then you’ll enjoy making gyoza as it was nice how it all came together! And if you don’t then theres ways to make it suit you better in buying the dough sheets like I mentioned above. There truly is a way for everyone! I might go ahead and try to discover what different types of fillings can be added, there might be an entire underground world of gyoza lovers waiting to be discovered 😂 now, I think I might be one of them!

Right! I’ve gotta go now but you can catch up with me over at The Cosy Corner or on older blog posts (theres almost 800 of them!! 🫨 What should I do to celebrate?). I hope you enjoyed this post and that you’re having a lovely weekend 💫 Take care, stay safe and buh-bye!