Avoid This Common Mistake When Making Your Own Gyoza
Pan-fried or steamed gyoza are a popular Japanese side dish or appetizer; the thin wrapper is filled with ground veggies or meat and fried until perfectly crispy. They're so good you could seemingly eat 20 of them in one sitting. Given that each wrapper has to be individually filled, folded, and cooked, store-bought gyoza is a convenient quick-fix for your craving. But the extra effort is so worth it to make your own; think of it as a labor of love. And it's just the time it takes that makes them extra; they're actually quite easy. Chef Koj, a private chef and food writer, gave us his tips to make the process go seamlessly for you — fill, fold, repeat. It's therapeutic!
"Most people overfill their gyoza wrappers and then find it difficult to close them," he says. "Start with just half a teaspoon of filling, until you have perfected your folding and pleating. Trust me, if you've made a good mixture, it will be enough." It's tempting to stuff them to the brim with all that good stuff, but your filling should be packed with so much flavor that a little goes a long way. Take the expert's word for it.
Now that we've covered the quantity, onto the quality of the filling
A traditional filling for gyoza is ground meat (with pork being most common) mixed with minced cabbage and aromatics like ginger, garlic, and scallion. You can go for all veggies or try different types of ground meat. Even shrimp or short-ribs would also work well with the Asian flavors. You can even stray from the traditional Japanese-style fillings; leftover birria taco meat makes for a unique gyoza culinary mashup. Whatever you choose for your filling, this is where it's worth going the extra mile. While there's a benefit to using store-bought wrappers for your homemade dumplings, you don't want to take any shortcuts with the filling since this is where the flavor comes from.
There are three main types of Japanese gyoza, which vary in cooking method. You can choose to pan-fry, boil, steam, or even deep fry your homemade gyoza. Like Chef Koj said, as long as they have a stellar filling, they'll be golden (literally, if you fry them!).