The purple color of the filling is because we’re using some purple cabbage. Was pretty good!

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Look at all the gyoza in the pan, lined up so neatly! They remind me of the terracotta warriors in Xi’an.

We tried a new chili sauce, which has tomato in it. It is very popular in Japan apparently. I thought it was good, but I prefer the garlic chili oil mixed with ponzu. I remember I had dipping sauces of shoyu (soy sauce) and vinegar when I was with my friends from Hong Kong, but I haven’t had it in years. Maybe I need to try it again.

Speaking of hot sauces, I just ordered three different kinds from Fly By Jing. They all look delicious, but I am most excited about the Mala Spice Mix, because I love the numbing peppers I had when I visited China. It might take a few weeks to arrive, but I am sure it will be worth it!

またね～

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Tonight we made a huge batch of gyoza for dinner. It was all from scratch, including the gyoza skins. We even used nira from the garden (which has been coming back year for several years now). Each of us had a spot in the gyoza factory: I smashed the dough using a tortilla press, Bay used a rolling pin to make them thinner, Koa added the pork and cheese (yes, cheese!) filling and sealed them up. Mariko coordinated the whole operation, and helped roll out the skins and also put filling in.

It went by quickly and we had a little over a baking-sheet’s worth of gyoza ready for cooking on the hotplate, as seen in the photo. It was yummy! The shape of the gyoza varied depending on Koa’s skill level and also his whimsy, with a few looking like xiaolongbao even. They were all delicious, though!

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こんばんは。How’s it going?

This evening I cooked up some frozen gyoza for Bay and me to eat for dinner. Over the years, I’ve gotten better at cooking gyoza, which I’ll admit doesn’t take much skill, but it’s a fun way to cook them nonetheless.

Basically, I put a little oil in the pan, then arrange the gyoza flat side down, in a nice pattern. Spiral is always a nice-looking design. Next, I get the pan hot and sizzling, then add a centimeter or two of water and cover the pan so that the gyoza steam through. After a few minutes, take the cover off and continue cooking until the water has disappeared. If you like, you can add a little sesame oil to the pan for flavor.

Cook until the bottom of the gyoza are golden brown and a little crispy, then use a spatula to loosen them a bit from the pan. To serve them up, put a large plate upside down over the pan, then with the palm of one hand on the top of the plate and the other grabbing the handle of the pan, turn the entire production upside down so that the plate is on the bottom and the gyoza fall off the pan and onto the plate. The sizzling, golden-brown side will be facing up.

If all goes well, you should have something that looks like this:

For dipping, we use ponzu or shoyu, and maybe add some chili oil as well. Sometimes we’ll just use good rayu chili oil by itself. It’s so good!

I hope you had a delicious day!

またね～

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Just some snapshots of last night’s dinner. Mariko had a little factory of homemade gyoza going! The last photo is of some special ラユ chili oil that she brought back from Okinawa. Tasty and not too spicy.

Hope you had a great day!

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