Shallow fried Chicken Gyoza

As you probably know, Gyoza have their origins in China where they are a deeply embedded part of the food culture going back many centuries, some say over two thousand years. Gyoza are also very popular in Japan although it might surprise you to learn that in Japan, gyoza are really a post-World War Two phenomenon. Why so? Well, here's a bite of history for you - during the 1930's, Japan colonised Manchuria (modern day Mongolia) and many thousands of Japanese went there to become farmers. At the end of World War II, those Japanese were expelled from the country and most of them returned to Japan. Among other things, they brought with them a love of gyoza acquired from living on the mainland next door to China. This liking for gyoza was apparently helped to spread by the lack of cooking pots in Japan in the post war period (I guess they had been donated to help the war effort). Being a food that can be pan fried in minutes (without a cooking pot), gyoza were quickly established as a firm favourite among the local population.

Gyoza come with all sorts of fillings although the classic gyoza filling is a mixture of pork and spring onions. But, the gyoza I prepare here have a chicken filling. (Compared to pork, chicken is healthier and a little lighter on the wallet.) The other ingredients in the filling are cabbage, garlic and spring onions, seasoned with black pepper and salt along with some oyster sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil. As a little twist, I add a little cube of cheddar cheese to each wrapper. Why? Because you get a deeper, richer flavour, which personally I adore in my gyoza. That said, by all means omit the cheese if you want less richness of flavour and more health.

The only other thing you'll need is some gyoza wrappers. You can normally find these online or at Chinese and Asian stores frozen in packs of around 50 and they aren't at all expensive.

The key in preparing the filling is to mince everything as finely as you can - this will ensure it cooks well within the gyoza wrapper. The gyoza cook in around 6 minutes, so you don't want to have any larger pieces of chicken or vegetable in the wrapper that might remain uncooked.

I use a simple technique to create the gyoza, just "fill and fold" with no concertina effect. (Of course, if you've used my other gyoza recipes where I do use a concertina effect, you can do that if you prefer.). The two keys when wrapping your gyoza are - first, make sure you press out any air from the wrapper as you seal it. Any air left inside the gyoza will expand when the gyoza is cooked and possibly burst the gyoza wrapper. The second thing is to make the seal nice and tight which means getting the edge of the wrapper a little bit wet so that when you fold it over, the two sides stick together nicely.

Once you've made your gyoza, you're ready to shallow fry them. This should take about 3 minutes each side to create a nice golden brown finish to the gyoza wrapper. You might want to top up the oil in the pan as you go along as the wrappers do absorb oil as they cook. Once the gyoza re cooked, eat them as soon as you can - they are really at their best eaten straight from the pan!

If this has got you in the mood to try some pan fried gyoza at home, you can find the Youtube tutorial by clicking Shallow fried Chicken Gyoza or by scrolling to the bottom of the page. The written recipe is just below.

Happy frying! Kurumi XXXX.

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ingredients:

(makes about 23 gyoza)

50g / 1.7oz  cabbage leaves

1 large clove garlic

3 spring onions

150g / 5oz minced chicken

salt and black pepper

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp oyster sauce

23 gyoza wrappers

1 tsp plain flour

23 small pieces (30g /1.2 oz) cheddar cheese

a small bowl of water for your fingers

vegetable oil for shallow frying

a sweet chilli dipping sauce

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First, slice the rinsed cabbage leaves in half longways and cut out the leaf stem. halve the leaves again and slice finely.  then mince finely (including the leaf stems) and place in a bowl. take your time to get a nice, fine minced result

slice and mince the garlic finely. add to the bowl

slice and mince the spring onions finely. add to the bowl

add the minced chicken to the minced vegetables. season generously with black pepper and salt. add the sesame oil, soy sauce & oyster sauce. mix everything together well to form your gyoza filling

spread 1 tsp of plain flour over a large plate

now to make your first gyoza. place a wrapper in the palm of your hand. with your other hand,  take up 1 tsp of the gyoza filling and spoon it into  the centre of the wrapper. add 1 of the little cubes of cheddar cheese, placing it in the centre of the gyoza filling

next, dip the index finger of your free hand into the water. wet the edge of the wrapper with the water. fold the wrapper over the filling. push out any air from the gyoza ang press gently around the edge to create a tight seal

pour and 4 - 5 tbsp of vegetable oil into a hot medium frying pan

when the oil is hot, place your gyoza into the pan. shallow fry for about 3 minutes until the wrapper is golden brown. turn the gyoza and fry for a further 3 minutes. add a little more oil if the pan seems to be getting dry.   

once your gyoza are golden brown on each side, remove them to a couple of sheets kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil

now cook your next batch, adding more oil if necessary

once all your gyoza are cooked, serve immediately with the chilli dipping sauce

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