Gyoza

[torakris]

I made gyoza last night and it has been years since I made them.

I always thought it was too time consuming and would occasionally by them already prepared but my kids never cared for them, so I rarely served them.

Well I have discovered that letting my kids help me means that it takes almost no time at all and I just can't get over how different they taste!

I think I will never buy them again.....

I just made the simple typical filling of pork and Chinese cabbage and it was good but could have been so much better.

Anyone have some favorite gyoza fillings they want to share?

My gyoza

EDIT

and by the way my kids loved them!!

Edited January 5, 2004 by torakris (log)

[anil]

28-29 of them ? These were appetisers ? It looked like a meal in itself :-) We had gyoza yesterday as apps. with some hot sake before our Shabu Shabu was set up and served.

In NYC I've found gyoza wanting -- Either it is overtly done i.e they fried it a tad too much or it is mushy-gushy -gooey ...

The sauce served with gyozas, are they regionally different ? Kyoto Vs Tokyo ?

[torakris]

28-29 of them ? These were appetisers ? It looked like a meal in itself :-) We had gyoza yesterday as apps. with some hot sake before our Shabu Shabu was set up and served.

In NYC I've found gyoza wanting -- Either it is overtly done i.e they fried it a tad too much or it is mushy-gushy -gooey ...

The sauce served with gyozas, are they regionally different ? Kyoto Vs Tokyo ?

actually there were 48 of them! there are two layers....

It was also for 5 people and was the main part of a meal with smaller dishes.

Good question about the sauces.

I do what I have always considered the typical sauce of soy-vinegar-rayu (chile oil), but I know some people who just dip them in vinegar.

I am not sure of regional differences....

anyone?

[Jon Tseng]

Lamb is a good, slightly different, filling I had in Beijing

Scrambled eggs and chinese chives is also good for veggies

Also did chinese wind-dried sausage, mozarella and basil once. very nice!

J

Edited January 6, 2004 by Jon Tseng (log)

[helenjp]

My basic mix is nira (Chinese chives] and ground pork, usually with some cabbage, or sometimes chopped beansprouts instead. Plus dried shiitake. Recently I prefer to add a bit of chopped up beanthread vermicelli instead of cornflour, because it doesn't get so pasty. Seasoning: salt, pepper, sake or vinegar, a little sesame oil, and either soy sauce or miso. A Chinese friend (from Fukien} says a little sugar is essential.

Trouble with making your own gyoza is that you get used to "the mixture as before" and shop/restaurant gyoza just don't taste right, even if they are much tastier than ome-made!

I make them at least once or twice a month, and it seems to take no time at all to fold up a batch of 60! I know there are crimping gadgets, but I'm sure they would take longer

[dumpling]

Shrimp, ginger and cilantro.

Pork, chive and lop cheung

[smallworld]

Those gyoza look great!

I actually prefer my gyoza steamed or boild, with a thick juicy skin. But I like yaki-gyoza too and since that's what we're talking about then that's what I'll stick to!

My husband's gyoza are very good (he used to work in a ramen shop) but he makes them so rarely. His is fairly typical with pork, nira, chinese cabbage, ginger, garlic, sesame oil etc. Sometimes a bit of miso and/or sugar. I make the dip, which is a mix of chilli sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, crushed sesame seeds and sliced negi.

Helen, you may be right about getting used to homemade gyoza, but we make them so rarely that I've never had that problem!

But one way to avoid being disappointed with restaurant gyoza that just aren't the same as homemade is to go to a place that features unusual fillings.

Lee Gyoza in Shinjuku is just such a place. Their regular yaki-gyoza are good, as are their tetsu-nabe gyoza (long open-ended gyoza served sizzling on an iron grill) and sui-gyoza (boilded gyoza).

But the real fun is in ordering their interesting fillings. The gyoza menu has a few categories:

-Vegetable Gyoza, including shiso, asparagus, potato, coriander and more.

-Seafood Gyoza, with tuna, iwashi, mentaiko etc.

-Special Gyoza, with cheese, mochi, kimchi.

-Special Mix Gyaza, with combos like cheese tomato, mochi cheese, mentaiko and potato, and mochi kimchi.

-Miss-match Special Gyoza, featuring corn-mayonnaise, tuna-mayonnaise, and shiso-iwashi.

-Dessert Gyoza, with sweet potato-butter, anko-mochi, and chocolate-banana (way better than they sound, but be sure to use new chopsticks and DON'T dip them!).

Here is their complete menu by the way (in Japanese only, sorry!):

http://wactes.actes.co.jp/lee/esinmenu.html

My favourites are shiitake, shiso-iwashi, mentaiko-potato, and mochi-kimchi, and all of the dessert gyoza. For dipping they used to offer the usual soy sauce, rayu and vinegar plus chilli sauce and grated daikon. You could make adjust it to your own taste, from light and refreshing to wickedly spicy, or somewhere in between. They seem to have stopped that now.

[helenjp]

Smallworld, those sound interesting! I recall having iwashi (fresh sardine) gyoza and liking them...and I've made scrambled egg and nira (chinese chives) filling and that was good too.

The worst restaurant gyoza I've ever encountered was the "Giant Gyoza"...featuring large amounts of ITO KONNYAKU in the filling. Those devil's tongue root noodles were tough and impossible to bite through, and they had toughened the meat in the filling too. DH and I glared at the sign reading "We take pride in our

famous Giant Gyoza" -- and chewed - and chewed - and chewed.

Dessert gyoza...I recall reading about banana harumaki, but dessert gyoza deserves some thinking about!

[Dejah]

Silkened coasely chopped chicken breast and slivered ginger, seasoned with a bit of sesame seed oil, salt, pepper.

[torakris]

Now that the weather is getting warmer, I have a hankering for sui-gyoza, these are ones that are boiled and then served cold.

I have to admit to never making these type in my life but I want to try. Can you use the same gyoza skins?

what are some good fillings?

[torakris]

Here is a picture for those unfamiliar:

http://allabout.co.jp/gourmet/cookingmen/c...13/rcp13_t1.jpg

[Gary Soup]

I have to admit to never making these type in my life but I want to try. Can you use the same gyoza skins?

what are some good fillings?

I can't comment on gyoza, but Chinese chefs who are very particular will make shui jiao skins differently than guo tie skins. For one thing, the shuijiao wrapper dough is made with cold water, while the guotie wrapper dough is made with warm water, presumably to release more gluten.

Personally, I don't think it makes a lot of difference. We turn our jiaozi into guotie all the time at home.

[Hiroyuki]

these are ones that are boiled and then served cold.

Are you sure that they are always served cold? I like them hot.

I know that in China, gyoza are sui-gyoza, but I prefer yaki-gyoza.

[Gary Soup]

Are you sure that they are always served cold?  I like them hot.

I know that in China, gyoza are sui-gyoza, but I prefer yaki-gyoza.

In China sui-gyoza are "shui jiao"; yaki-gyoza are "guo tie" (known as "potstickers" in English). Shiu jiao and guo tie are almost the same dumpling, but cooked differently. Shui jiao are always served hot in China.

[torakris]

these are ones that are boiled and then served cold.

Are you sure that they are always served cold? I like them hot.

I know that in China, gyoza are sui-gyoza, but I prefer yaki-gyoza.

suigyoza can also be served hot, but the majority of the time I see them on the menu it is the cold variety (especially the warmer months).

Do the Japanese use a word to differentiate between the cold ones and the hot ones? I don't think I have ever seen either one one called anything but suigyoza.....

Sorry about the confusing post, I had been only thinking about the cold ones for the past couple days.

Of course with the temperature in Tokyo today only going to hit about 58 F (14 C) and be rainy, the hot ones are sounding quite good!!

[Hiroyuki]

Do the Japanese use a word to differentiate between the cold ones and the hot ones?

The only words I can think of are:

温製 (on-sei) for hot ones

冷製　(re-i-se-i) for cold ones

Look at the menu:

http://www.gyouza-h.com/tenpo.html

I guess 水餃子 on the menu is served hot, while 冷製水餃子 is definitely cold.

As for gyoza skins, I guess you already know that you can use the same ones as those for yaki-gyoza, but some websites recommend that you make thicker ones by yourself.

[Min]

Looks great Kris! I like mine with minced pork,shrimp,scallions and chestnuts.

[EdS]

Rather than talking about fillings for gyoza, how about gyoza used as a filling. A crepe filling? A dosa? What is this?

A gyoza crepe?

[EdS]

OK, it looks like that photo was taken in a Chinese restaurant in Japan but I'm still curious about what that concoction is. Gyoza Tarte Tatin?

Oh, and here's a good photo.

[SobaAddict70]

Well, I had lunch at Roppongi yesterday, in the Upper West Side, here in NYC.

Vegetable gyoza

Chicken tempura udon

two pieces of uni sushi

Sushi was sort of ok for a better-than-average Japanese restaurant. A 6 out of 10, for perspective purposes. Ditto for the tempura udon.

The menu said "pan-fried vegetable gyoza", and that's what I was expecting. What came out instead was deep fried vegetable gyoza, served on top of a wilted green salad inside a deep fried rice dough shell and served with a carrot-ginger viniagrette, as a dipping sauce. These "gyoza" had a cabbage/shiso filling, not quite expected. It was....different. 7 out of 10 for this one.

Soba

[jschyun]

OK, it looks like that photo was taken in a Chinese restaurant in Japan but I'm still curious about what that concoction is. Gyoza Tarte Tatin?

Oh, and here's a good photo.

←

Looks like they put in some batter to stick them all together. Actually, looks pretty good to me.

--I misread your post at first so this post has been edited.

Edited December 20, 2004 by jschyun (log)

[torakris]

Actually these are a little different than the regular ones, these gyouza (not sure if they have a name) were all the rage a little while back. They are the same as pan fried gyouza but at the very end of cooking a very thin potato starch (katakuriko)-water mixture is poured around the edges of the pan and the pan tilted a bit so that it flows under the gyouza connecting them all with this thin crunchy batter. These are really good!

not sure about that second picture.....

[torakris]

The menu said "pan-fried vegetable gyoza", and that's what I was expecting.  What came out instead was deep fried vegetable gyoza, served on top of a wilted green salad inside a deep fried rice dough shell and served with a carrot-ginger viniagrette, as a dipping sauce.  These "gyoza" had a cabbage/shiso filling, not quite expected.  It was....different.  7 out of 10 for this one.

Soba

←

I wonder why they called them pan fried when they were deep fried???

what was it about them that you didn't like the filling or the deep fried part? or the dressing?

[jschyun]

I make them at least once or twice a month, and it seems to take no time at all to fold up a batch of 60! I know there are crimping gadgets, but I'm sure they would take longer

←

When i was a kid, my mom made millions of gyoza and froze them for later use. She bought the little plastic crimping tool and to be honest, it didn't really save much time or effort, but it did put nice little ruffles in the gyoza edge. Also, if I remember correctly, you had to put exactly the right amount of filling or it wouldn't seal.

[Jason Perlow]

I make them at least once or twice a month, and it seems to take no time at all to fold up a batch of 60! I know there are crimping gadgets, but I'm sure they would take longer

←

When i was a kid, my mom made millions of gyoza and froze them for later use. She bought the little plastic crimping tool and to be honest, it didn't really save much time or effort, but it did put nice little ruffles in the gyoza edge. Also, if I remember correctly, you had to put exactly the right amount of filling or it wouldn't seal.

←

Technically, do Pan-Fried Mandoo count as Gyoza? Or are they a different animal?

We made these not too long ago, here is the thread (with pics and recipe) where we made some:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=54007

We actually deep fried these, as opposed to pan fry, but the filling itself in the Mandoo was pretty traditional. We used Gyoza wrappers.