★★★Hanetsuki Gyoza★★★ (gyoza dumplings with "wings")
I apologize for the lack of posts since May. I just haven't been able to sit down and write out a post in a long time. I have been doing stuff in the kitchen though, so hopefully I'll be able to show you some of the stuff I did. Today I'll be talking about an experiment I did a while back.
Also please note that I have finally found the "cut" function on this blog thing, so the entries aren't super long on the main page anymore but hidden behind the "Read More" links. So don't worry, everything's still here and didn't disappear or something.
The first time I made gyoza was when I went to Japan after graduation. It was the first meal I had at my second homestay. We made them ourselves and they were super good!
When I came back home I got my hands on the ingredients and tried to make them as well. They turned out pretty good (although the filling was a little dry the first time around).
Ever since then (about 3-4 years ago), gyoza have become quite popular among the members of my family and we eat them as an entree along with dim sum dishes sometimes.
And while gyoza just like this are pretty awesome already, I wanted to challenge, well, let's call it 'next level gyoza' XD I wanted to give making 'hanetsuki gyoza' a try, the ones I had seen on countless occasions in Japan (I like going to the 'Gyoza Stadium' in Ikebukuro to get inspired).
So, a few weeks ago, I finally gave it a try. I had been looking for the right opportunity really and it presented itself to me at long last. We were having guests over who don't get to eat Asian food very often and so we wanted to do something special and yet not too exotic. Gyoza are pretty much standard and very simple with no fancy ingredients, so I decided to make them. And add a special effect.
The result:
I guess I can call it a success. The biggest problem was to find a lid for the small frying pan I used for this because all our other pans are either huge or wok-style so they're too deep for the gyoza really.
My brother is a lot better when it comes to picture-sense, so I'm including his two pictures here. The big issue I had with the 'hane' at first was the amount of starch/flower that is to be used to make them. Because if you use too much, they won't turn crispy enough and you have to leave it in the pan for a long time - which means your gyoza will burn.
Anyways, recipe! I'm only including the filling. Because for the skin I haven't yet figure out the right measurements. So the gyoza you see up there were made with ready-made skin which you can buy at most Asia Supermarkets (gyoza waza / jiaoxi skin - it should be ROUND and not a square one and do NOT take the ones called "shaomai skin" or anything with shaomai because that's the wrong stuff!!)
This makes about 72 gyoza - depending on how much you stuff into them. The skin I buy here comes either in 36 sheets or 24 sheets packages. I usually use the 2x36 ones.
250 gr pork meat (or chicken meat) - you can use ground meat but I prefer to process it myself
1 bunch green onions or a normal sized onion
6-8 cabbage leaves (you can also use Chinese cabbage if you want)
1 thumb sized piece of ginger
2 normal sized cloves of garlic
soy sauce
oyster sauce
sesame oil
salt
pepper
(optional: chili powder)
1 egg
(1 cup soup stock (usually chicken) - optional, depending on the way you prepare the cabbage)
(if available: jellied meat juice - if you cook meat with bones the soup/juice will become like jelly)
starch and or flour for the "hane"
water
oil
Alternatively, you can add shrimp into the filling and use less meat. Though I guess a lot of shrimp is more advisable when it comes to shumai or wantan filling. The shrimp add a nice texture to the filling and make it less crumbly and dry, compared to when you only use meat.
How to:
There are two ways to prepare the cabbage. An easy way and a complicated way. The complicated way is actually one I learned from a 5-Star chef, who owns a really renowned Chinese restaurant. So I assume he knows what he's talking about. I'll explain it to you here and then include my lazy way of doing things.
So, the complicated way is to cook the cabbage in the chicken soup first and then pulse it in a food processor until it becomes liquid. Then you set it aside to cool so it turns into a thick paste. You should do this well before you prepare the rest because it takes a while to cool (putting it in a flat container and then into a bowl with ice-water works fastest but not everyone has that at their disposal.
If you do not want to spend that much time on the cabbage, you can do it the way I do it. Chop it small. Yes that's it. There won't be the additional taste of soup and it will make the filling slightly more watery, compared to the complicated method but it's the easy way out and well, not everybody has a food processor.
Once you've prepared the cabbage in whatever way, set it aside for the moment and focus on the meat.
Since I use whole pieces of meat instead of ground meat, I put it in a food processor together with pieces of onion - normal onion, not green onion - and all the other ingredients (minus the cabbage, green onion and egg) and pulse it until it is chopped small and turns into a paste.
I cut up the garlic, onion and ginger before the processing step though because otherwise the chunks will be uneven and won't spread evenly. Once you have the base filling paste, mix in a raw egg. This will make the filling a bit stickier and it won't crumble later on. Also mix in the green onions and cut up cabbage or cabbage paste in this step (green onions can be optional, it looks nice so if you want to go for the looks...otherwise normal onion is more than enough in my opinion).
I season by feeling, so I can't tell you exact measurements. You can try and experiment with it a little? Find the taste that you like best.
If you have jellied meat juice, then gently mix it in here with your hands or something so it doesn't melt and break. This will make your gyoza really nice and juicy later on because the jelly melts in the heat of the pan. If you have the time, put the filling back in the fridge for a bit so it hardens a little again. But not for too long since you put a fresh egg in there. It has to be used up on the same day!
Putting the filling into the skin is pretty easy. I usually put a small teaspoon into the skin (depending on how large the skin is and how elastic it is). Then pinch it close. If you have self-made skins, just start pinching it close on one side and then continue to pinch and pull a bit so a wavy shape is created.
If you use bought skins, like I do, fold the skin over the filling bundle so the circle turns into half a circle - if the skins are a bit dry, use a tiny amount of water to wet the edge of one half before you press both sides onto each other. Then my technique is to fold it like a fan. so pull in and then press back and down. It's a little hard to describe. Maybe you can find youtube videos for that? ^^;
Once you've finished stuffing your gyoza, it's time for the trickiest part of the whole hanetsuki gyoza process. If you didn't want the 'hane' then you just put some oil (I use peanut oil because it gets nice and hot very quickly and is better than regular salad oil) into a frying pan, put the gyoza in there, dump some water over them once the underside turns a light brown and put a lid over the whole thing (some people boil their gyoza before frying them but I prefer the traditional method).
Beware, if you want to make "hane" you will need a plate big enough that you can cover the whole frying pan you are using with it because otherwise the "hane" will break if you try to get the gyoza out later!!!
With the "hane" you have to add flour and/or starch into the water before you dump it over the gyoza. With starch, it's very tricky. I think I experimented with half a table-spoon and about 200cc/200ml of water but then didn't dump all of it onto that one batch of gyoza (I made three I think but only 2 out of the same batch of water+starch). I think with flour it's a whole tablespoon or more with 100cc/100ml of water. I think mixing starch and flour is a good idea. The amount of water also varies, it depends on how large your pan is and how many gyoza you are trying to make. I think 100cc/100ml is a good amount of water to dump over gyoza.
Put oil in the pan, line up the gyoza and then once all are in position (I prefer making a star of flower shape) you can pour the hane-mixture over the gyoza. Once you've done that cover them with a lid for a bit so they get steamed for a while. Then take off the lid and see to it that all the water evaporates. If you are using a gas-stove, move the pan so the water evaporates evenly in all places. If you use induction or electric stoves I guess it's just waiting? At least that's what I did. My pan is also smaller than the stove ring thing so there was heat rising up on the sides as well.
Once the hane have formed and turned crispy, use a spatula or shake the pan gently to see if the whole construction moves and doesn't stick to the pan. If it moves freely, then get a plate ready. Put a plate over the pan and then flip everything over. The result should then look like in the pictures above.
All done!
ALL done?
Not really, I guess. I forgot the dipping sauce!
Again, there are several types you can choose from. The standard way to eat gyoza is with 'gyoza tare', which is basically a mixture of rice vinegar and soy sauce. Many people add chili oil or rayu to it, to make it spicy. Some people also just eat it with soy sauce and rayu.
There are many ways to make rayu yourself with a variety of ingredients. You can also just buy it at a Japanese supermarket or an Asian supermarket most of the time, whatever you prefer.
For my gyoza tare, I take 1 part vinegar and 2-3 parts soy sauce by the way - it depends on how sour the vinegar you use is. I don't like it too sour. And I don't always use rice vinegar either but white balsamic vinegar or other vinegar. Whatever I have around the house at that time.
I use a pre-made rayu base, chili peppers and garlic fried in oil to make chili and garlic oil. Then add sesame seeds and fried or dry onions - optional: dried shrimp grated into powder (commonly used in SEA cuisine, so I usually have some lying around) and/or tiny stir-fried shrimp (sakura ebi). If you have the time and facilities, grind the sesame seeds before you put them in (I also use roasted sesame seeds - roasted them myself, it brings out the aroma better!). I recommend heating everything up and then mixing stuff together although mixing it together cold works, too.
Then you're pretty much done. Enjoy!
I apologize for the lack of posts since May. I just haven't been able to sit down and write out a post in a long time. I have been doing stuff in the kitchen though, so hopefully I'll be able to show you some of the stuff I did. Today I'll be talking about an experiment I did a while back.
Also please note that I have finally found the "cut" function on this blog thing, so the entries aren't super long on the main page anymore but hidden behind the "Read More" links. So don't worry, everything's still here and didn't disappear or something.
The first time I made gyoza was when I went to Japan after graduation. It was the first meal I had at my second homestay. We made them ourselves and they were super good!
When I came back home I got my hands on the ingredients and tried to make them as well. They turned out pretty good (although the filling was a little dry the first time around).
 |
| My first attempt at making gyoza myself - success! |
Ever since then (about 3-4 years ago), gyoza have become quite popular among the members of my family and we eat them as an entree along with dim sum dishes sometimes.
And while gyoza just like this are pretty awesome already, I wanted to challenge, well, let's call it 'next level gyoza' XD I wanted to give making 'hanetsuki gyoza' a try, the ones I had seen on countless occasions in Japan (I like going to the 'Gyoza Stadium' in Ikebukuro to get inspired).
So, a few weeks ago, I finally gave it a try. I had been looking for the right opportunity really and it presented itself to me at long last. We were having guests over who don't get to eat Asian food very often and so we wanted to do something special and yet not too exotic. Gyoza are pretty much standard and very simple with no fancy ingredients, so I decided to make them. And add a special effect.
The result:
I guess I can call it a success. The biggest problem was to find a lid for the small frying pan I used for this because all our other pans are either huge or wok-style so they're too deep for the gyoza really.
My brother is a lot better when it comes to picture-sense, so I'm including his two pictures here. The big issue I had with the 'hane' at first was the amount of starch/flower that is to be used to make them. Because if you use too much, they won't turn crispy enough and you have to leave it in the pan for a long time - which means your gyoza will burn.
Anyways, recipe! I'm only including the filling. Because for the skin I haven't yet figure out the right measurements. So the gyoza you see up there were made with ready-made skin which you can buy at most Asia Supermarkets (gyoza waza / jiaoxi skin - it should be ROUND and not a square one and do NOT take the ones called "shaomai skin" or anything with shaomai because that's the wrong stuff!!)
RECIPE:
This makes about 72 gyoza - depending on how much you stuff into them. The skin I buy here comes either in 36 sheets or 24 sheets packages. I usually use the 2x36 ones.
250 gr pork meat (or chicken meat) - you can use ground meat but I prefer to process it myself
1 bunch green onions or a normal sized onion
6-8 cabbage leaves (you can also use Chinese cabbage if you want)
1 thumb sized piece of ginger
2 normal sized cloves of garlic
soy sauce
oyster sauce
sesame oil
salt
pepper
(optional: chili powder)
1 egg
(1 cup soup stock (usually chicken) - optional, depending on the way you prepare the cabbage)
(if available: jellied meat juice - if you cook meat with bones the soup/juice will become like jelly)
starch and or flour for the "hane"
water
oil
Alternatively, you can add shrimp into the filling and use less meat. Though I guess a lot of shrimp is more advisable when it comes to shumai or wantan filling. The shrimp add a nice texture to the filling and make it less crumbly and dry, compared to when you only use meat.
How to:
There are two ways to prepare the cabbage. An easy way and a complicated way. The complicated way is actually one I learned from a 5-Star chef, who owns a really renowned Chinese restaurant. So I assume he knows what he's talking about. I'll explain it to you here and then include my lazy way of doing things.
So, the complicated way is to cook the cabbage in the chicken soup first and then pulse it in a food processor until it becomes liquid. Then you set it aside to cool so it turns into a thick paste. You should do this well before you prepare the rest because it takes a while to cool (putting it in a flat container and then into a bowl with ice-water works fastest but not everyone has that at their disposal.
If you do not want to spend that much time on the cabbage, you can do it the way I do it. Chop it small. Yes that's it. There won't be the additional taste of soup and it will make the filling slightly more watery, compared to the complicated method but it's the easy way out and well, not everybody has a food processor.
Once you've prepared the cabbage in whatever way, set it aside for the moment and focus on the meat.
Since I use whole pieces of meat instead of ground meat, I put it in a food processor together with pieces of onion - normal onion, not green onion - and all the other ingredients (minus the cabbage, green onion and egg) and pulse it until it is chopped small and turns into a paste.
I cut up the garlic, onion and ginger before the processing step though because otherwise the chunks will be uneven and won't spread evenly. Once you have the base filling paste, mix in a raw egg. This will make the filling a bit stickier and it won't crumble later on. Also mix in the green onions and cut up cabbage or cabbage paste in this step (green onions can be optional, it looks nice so if you want to go for the looks...otherwise normal onion is more than enough in my opinion).
I season by feeling, so I can't tell you exact measurements. You can try and experiment with it a little? Find the taste that you like best.
If you have jellied meat juice, then gently mix it in here with your hands or something so it doesn't melt and break. This will make your gyoza really nice and juicy later on because the jelly melts in the heat of the pan. If you have the time, put the filling back in the fridge for a bit so it hardens a little again. But not for too long since you put a fresh egg in there. It has to be used up on the same day!
Putting the filling into the skin is pretty easy. I usually put a small teaspoon into the skin (depending on how large the skin is and how elastic it is). Then pinch it close. If you have self-made skins, just start pinching it close on one side and then continue to pinch and pull a bit so a wavy shape is created.
If you use bought skins, like I do, fold the skin over the filling bundle so the circle turns into half a circle - if the skins are a bit dry, use a tiny amount of water to wet the edge of one half before you press both sides onto each other. Then my technique is to fold it like a fan. so pull in and then press back and down. It's a little hard to describe. Maybe you can find youtube videos for that? ^^;
Once you've finished stuffing your gyoza, it's time for the trickiest part of the whole hanetsuki gyoza process. If you didn't want the 'hane' then you just put some oil (I use peanut oil because it gets nice and hot very quickly and is better than regular salad oil) into a frying pan, put the gyoza in there, dump some water over them once the underside turns a light brown and put a lid over the whole thing (some people boil their gyoza before frying them but I prefer the traditional method).
Beware, if you want to make "hane" you will need a plate big enough that you can cover the whole frying pan you are using with it because otherwise the "hane" will break if you try to get the gyoza out later!!!
With the "hane" you have to add flour and/or starch into the water before you dump it over the gyoza. With starch, it's very tricky. I think I experimented with half a table-spoon and about 200cc/200ml of water but then didn't dump all of it onto that one batch of gyoza (I made three I think but only 2 out of the same batch of water+starch). I think with flour it's a whole tablespoon or more with 100cc/100ml of water. I think mixing starch and flour is a good idea. The amount of water also varies, it depends on how large your pan is and how many gyoza you are trying to make. I think 100cc/100ml is a good amount of water to dump over gyoza.
Put oil in the pan, line up the gyoza and then once all are in position (I prefer making a star of flower shape) you can pour the hane-mixture over the gyoza. Once you've done that cover them with a lid for a bit so they get steamed for a while. Then take off the lid and see to it that all the water evaporates. If you are using a gas-stove, move the pan so the water evaporates evenly in all places. If you use induction or electric stoves I guess it's just waiting? At least that's what I did. My pan is also smaller than the stove ring thing so there was heat rising up on the sides as well.
Once the hane have formed and turned crispy, use a spatula or shake the pan gently to see if the whole construction moves and doesn't stick to the pan. If it moves freely, then get a plate ready. Put a plate over the pan and then flip everything over. The result should then look like in the pictures above.
All done!
ALL done?
Not really, I guess. I forgot the dipping sauce!
Again, there are several types you can choose from. The standard way to eat gyoza is with 'gyoza tare', which is basically a mixture of rice vinegar and soy sauce. Many people add chili oil or rayu to it, to make it spicy. Some people also just eat it with soy sauce and rayu.
There are many ways to make rayu yourself with a variety of ingredients. You can also just buy it at a Japanese supermarket or an Asian supermarket most of the time, whatever you prefer.
For my gyoza tare, I take 1 part vinegar and 2-3 parts soy sauce by the way - it depends on how sour the vinegar you use is. I don't like it too sour. And I don't always use rice vinegar either but white balsamic vinegar or other vinegar. Whatever I have around the house at that time.
I use a pre-made rayu base, chili peppers and garlic fried in oil to make chili and garlic oil. Then add sesame seeds and fried or dry onions - optional: dried shrimp grated into powder (commonly used in SEA cuisine, so I usually have some lying around) and/or tiny stir-fried shrimp (sakura ebi). If you have the time and facilities, grind the sesame seeds before you put them in (I also use roasted sesame seeds - roasted them myself, it brings out the aroma better!). I recommend heating everything up and then mixing stuff together although mixing it together cold works, too.
Then you're pretty much done. Enjoy!
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