Wherever the food is from, I think my favourite food is dumplings! I cannot resist any of them. Even though we are still in a ketogenic diet, we don’t miss the chance to ditch it for whatever we are craving for -in moderation, of course. So in order to not to go empty handed to a friend’s place for dinner (!) we made gyozas (why, it has nothing to do with the fact that we really wanted to eat some!)
Steamed dumplings are traditional for many asian countries. In fact, it’s a common food even in some western countries, especially in Eastern European countries.
For instance, in Poland there is pierogi, dumplings filled with cheese, potatoes, ground beef, souerkraut… which are first boiled then pan-fried with butter. Again, in Poland there is uszka, the smaller version without meat that is traditional before Christmas. It usually has onions and mushroom.
Khinkali is the Georgian version which is spicy with ground beef or pork.
Wonton, is the Hong Kong stylemade with shrimps and ground pork, and it’s usually served in soups.
Pelmeni is the Russian version prepared with meat, mushroom or cheese.
Dim sim and xiaolongbao are Chinese dumplings which have different foldings. They are usually steamed in bamboo boxes. but some are fried. They usually have cabbaga and meat or fish. Teochew (fun guo) has peanuts, chives, dried shrimps, mushrooms and ground porc.
Dim sim and xiaolongbao are Chinese dumplings which have different foldings. They are usually steamed in bamboo boxes. but some are fried. They usually have cabbaga and meat or fish. Teochew (fun guo) has peanuts, chives, dried shrimps, mushrooms and ground porc.
Mandu is the Korean and traditionally prepared with kimchi.
Momo is the Tibet one, also found in Nepal and Northern India. It’s filled with meat, vegetables, cheese… and served with a tomato sauce.
And Gyoza… The Japanese version has a thinner wrapper and it is usally prepared with ground porc. The bottom is pan-fried and then the whole dumpling is steamed.
Choosing the ingredients
I think the best filling is duck confit. This is the improvised version we made.
Luckily here we have very tasty frozen duck confit ready to eat! So I didn’t have to cook the duck. However if you want to start from scratch, you need to either cook the duck sous vide (75C for 8 hours) with a bit of fat or in the oven (70C for 3 hours) submerged in oil.
Instead of duck you can use ground meat (any meat) and in that case it is enough to mix the raw meat with other ingredients.
If you want to make a vegetarian/vegan version, skip the meat or replace it with grated tofu.
The last time I made these I prepared the though myself but it’s very practical to buy the wrappers frozen from Asian shops. If you can’t find them, just prepare a semi-stiff dough and prepare them as about 10 cm circles. You can dust with starch to avoid sticking.
I used cabbage and mushrooms for the filling. You can add scallions (I added chives instead). Add some garlic, and if possible black garlic. You can add grated ginger, I passed this time. Instead of salt, I used a mixture of miso and soy sauce.
Another trick that I skipped this time is to prepare a buillon jelly. Mix some broth with gelatine and refrigerate. When filling the gyozas, add a bit of this jelly. When cooked the felly will melt and turn back into broth locked in the dumpling. Gyozas will be less dry and mose tasty.
Method
Method 1: cook the gyozas in a pan with sesame oil until the bottoms are golden. Then, add a mixture of starch, water, sesame oil and soy sauce, enough to cover the bottom of the pot, and cover the pot, if possible with a glass cover. It’s best to not burn them at this point! Lower the heat and wait until it’s done.
Method 2: first steam them then fry the bottoms. This will be a bit more crunchy.
Sauce
Completely up to your taste. I preferred a bit spicy so I mixed nuoc mam with crunchy chilly oil, sesame oil and a bit of soy sauce. If you want more sour, add a bit of vinegar.
Serving
Usually they are served upside down as the golden part look awesome, but I served the other way around because I love the folding! Also they look great in a bamboo steam pot on top of a banana leaf! I was lucky to find them in my Asian shop!
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