Pork Gyoza's

This past spring, I spent many of my days passing the time by watching the food network on tv, and saw this recipe by Anna Olson for Gyoza's and knew that I had to make them. It took me so long to try them out, because it seemed a bit daunting! When I finally did though, I was pleasantly surprised - they were surprisingly simple to prep and cook, AND they were delicious! They have the perfect blend of tang from the ginger and soy sauce, and are a nice light meal. I served the gyoza's with Anna's basic dipping sauce, and fresh vegetables.

While they are simple to make, the prep is a bit time consuming, and so you might as well make a whole batch all at once and freeze the rest - and that's what I did. They freeze really well, and in fact it makes them easier to cook.

Pork Gyoza's & Basic Dipping Sauce

Source: Anna Olson's Fresh with Anna Olson

Yields about 70 individual dumplings

Pork Gyoza's

1 pound green cabbage, finely chopped

2 tbsp garlic, minced

2 tbsp ginger, minced

1 pound ground pork

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

1 tbsp white sugar

2 packages round wonton skins, 70 piece (the one I bought came in a 2 pkg set)
1 tbsp olive oil (for cooking)

Hot water (for cooking)

Basic Dipping Sauce

2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1/4 cup sesame oil

1. Using a food processor, blend in batches the cabbage until finely chopped, and transfer to a large bowl. Add the garlic and ginger and blend until finely minced, and add to the cabbage. Add to the cabbage mixture the ground pork, soy sauce and sugar, and mix. Fry a small patty in a pan to test for seasoning, and adjust to taste.

2. In order to prevent the gyoza's and wonton skins from drying out while I worked, I kept them covered, and worked in small batches of about 4 or 5: Brush the outside edge of the wonton skin with water, and please a teaspoon full of the meat mixture in the centre. Folder over the wonton skin to make a half circle shaped dumpling, and press the edges to seal the seam.

3. Place the dumpling seam-up on a wax paper lined baking sheet, and lightly press down to make the bottom surface flat.

4. Once you've filled up the tray, cover with plastic wrap and freeze for several hours. Once frozen, transfer the frozen gyozas to plastic freezer bags until ready to use.

5. To cook, heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the frozen gyozas flat side down to the pan in order to brown slightly.

6. Add hot water to the pan to almost cover the dumplings, and cook about 8 minutes.

7. Remove the lid every so often, and gently shake the pan. Once cooked, and once the water nearly evaporates (or if it doesn't evaporate, drain out most of the remaining water), and allow the gyoza to fry in the remaining oil for another minute.

8. Mix together the basic dipping sauce ingredients soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil, and serve with gyoza's. Enjoy!