The Best Veggie Gyoza

Why make your own gyoza, when Trader Joe's sells bags of them for just a few bucks? 

Try them, and you will never again accept lousy store-bought substitutes. These are 1,000x better, and truly easy to make. I know I say that about some things, and people stare at me like "you're a freaking trained chef", but really, your kids could make these. 

If you really needed to, you could probably get all the ingredients at Safeway. 

The filling is super basic:

napa cabbage, 1 medium

carrots, 2 medium 

fresh shiitake mushrooms, 8oz. (crimini will do in a pinch, but don't have nearly as good a flavor)

green onion 

The wrappers are relatively interchangeable. You want a very thin, square or round fresh wheat-based Asian wrapper. Most grocery stores (in the Bay Area anyway) now carry at least one type of wrapper in the fresh/fridge case (try near the produce section at Safeway). Whole Foods has more than one kind (they have a cold case near the eggs with Asian noodles, etc.), and Asian specialty stores will have a bigger selection. If you like to cook Asian meals, I recommend going to an Asian specialty store and stocking up on some condiments. Fun! A basic traditional dipping sauce for these would be equal parts of soy sauce and rice vinegar. I always thin that out with some water (even if I start with reduced-sodium soy sauce). No one needs that much sodium, and you won't know the difference. 

Prep the Filling

Shiitake mushrooms have thick, meaty caps, and tougher stems. I generally use just the caps, and dry or freeze the stems for another use (like fortifying broths). Contrary to popular belief, you should always rinse mushrooms before using. They grow in the ground, you know. Just run them under some cool water, and use your fingers to gently rub off any dirt. Shiitake are very sturdy, and can take the abuse. Slice the caps in half across their width, then stack them back together like a hamburger; then slice thin slices. This way you'll have thinner strips, and more of them dispersed in your filling.

Remove the outermost leaves of the cabbage. Slice the cabbage in half lengthwise. Use a knife to slice very thin shreds down to the base (like you're shredding cabbage for coleslaw). 

Wash, peel and grate the carrots. 

Rinse and thinly slice two green onions. 

Heat a large skillet (I use a 12" for this) on med-high. Add 2T olive oil. Add the mushrooms, and saute for 3-4 minutes, until brown. Remove from the pan. Add the carrots, and saute for a few minutes until they're heated through and dry. Add the cabbage. Saute for just a few minutes until the cabbage wilts down. Remember, this filling will cook again when you cook the gyoza, so better to leave the veggies tender for now so they don't end up mushy. Stir in the green onion and mushrooms, and dump the filling into a large bowl to cool. Stir it occasionally to help steam escape so it cools faster. 

Assembly

Set out some baking sheets or large trays. Pour a little cold water into a small bowl (you'll use this to seal the wrapper). Put one some good music, or Mad Men, or whatever, and start wrapping. 

Using a fork, fill each wrapper with enough filling to cover about 1/4-1/3 of its area, leaving the edges free. Dip your finger in the water, and rub it around the edge of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half like a taco, and pinch the seam together firmly, going back over it a couple of times. Set the gyoza on the sheet, and keep that factory cranking. 

These are round wrappers. You can crimp the edge for a fancy effect.
With square wrappers, you can just seal them in half.

If you're going to eat tonight, wipe out the pan you used for the veggies, and heat it to medium. Add 1T olive oil and 1t toasted sesame oil (optional, but DO IT). When the oil is hot, place the gyoza seam-side up in a spiral formation, so they help each other stand up (and you can also get more in the pan that way). Brown the bottoms, then add about 1/2C water to the pan, cover, and reduce the heat to low. When all the water is evaporated, remove the lid, turn up the heat for a minute until they sizzle. Serve immediately with your favorite dipping sauce.

Freeze remaining gyoza on the sheet pan, then once frozen, transfer to a ziploc bag, and store for up to 3 months. 

いただきます！

Chocolate Almond Macaroons GF

My Mom discovered the recipe for these a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, and made them every year for Christmas. It was a BIG production. For the almond macaroon, we'd shell almonds, blanch them to remove the skins, dry them, and grind them to make the almond meal. The last few years, Mom was taking care of her Mom, and didn't have the bandwidth to make these. This year, I was fortunate to have a lot of time off around the holidays, so I volunteered to make them. And guess what? You can BUY organic ground almond meal at most stores with bulk sections. So that simplified things quite a bit to start. The rest may seem complicated or fancy, but most of these steps can be done ahead of time, allowing you to relax and enjoy time with your guests, while wowing them with these irresistibly delicious treats. 

If you make these ahead (which I recommend), do all the steps in one day, and freeze the macaroons, defrosting them about 20-30 minutes before serving (they're also really good frozen). As with any seemingly intimidating recipe, you have a greater chance of succeeding if you read through the recipe a few times first, and organize all your ingredients and tools ahead of time, visualizing each step. 

These (gluten-free!) macaroons have 3 components:
almond macaroon 
cocoa buttercream
dark chocolate coating

Let's start with the buttercream. I like the Neoclassic Buttercream recipe from the Cake Bible, as you don't need a thermometer for the sugar syrup, and it's a relatively quick and simple technique. We modified this recipe to use 3 egg yolks, so you don't waste any eggs, as the macaroon uses 3 whites. 

Before you start, make sure your butter is softened, but not melty. Here's what you'll need:

Cocoa Buttercream
3 egg yolks (I always use extra-large cage-free eggs)
1/4C + 2T sugar (only use white granulated sugar)
1/4C light corn syrup (you can find non-GMO at Whole Foods, etc.)
3/4C unsalted butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks)
3T cocoa powder, sifted 

Tools

• Hand or stand mixer (I prefer a hand mixer for this small batch). 
• Small sauce pan, preferably nonstick
• Measuring cups, spoons 
• Two small/medium mixing bowls, about the same size 
• Tray of ice cubes (optional)

Method
Beat the yolks on medium-high until pale yellow and thick (about 5 minutes). 
Heat the sugar and corn syrup in the saucepan, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or heat-proof silicone spatula, until the mixture comes to a roaring boil with large bubbles on the surface. 

With the mixer on low, VERY CAREFULLY pour the syrup in a thin stream into the egg yolks. 
AVOID pouring the syrup into the mixing blades, or the syrup will splatter on the sides of the bowl, harden, and you'll end up with crunchy bits in your smooth buttercream. Not the end of the world, but avoid it if possible. Start with a little syrup at first to temper the eggs so they don't scramble from the heat. Then continue quickly but carefully to pour in the rest of the syrup while beating on slow-medium. At this point you'll need to keep beating the mixutre for about 10 minutes until it cools to room temperature. You can speed up the cooling process by nesting the bowl in another bowl full of ice. Just keep moving that mixer around to make sure you're cooling the mixture evenly. Test the temperature by putting a dab on your lip. If it feels a bit cooler than your body temp, you can start adding the butter, 1T at a time, making sure it's completely mixed in before adding the next lump. Continue until all the butter is incorportated. 

Sift the cocoa powder over the buttercream, and mix in on low. You did it! Now you can set the buttercream aside while you make the macaroons. 

Preheat the oven to 375'.

Macaroons
3 egg whites
1.5C ground almond meal
1.5C powdered sugar, sifted

Tools

• Stand mixer fitted with whip (or hand mixer). If you're using the same mixer as you did for the buttercream, be sure to wash it thoroughly with soap and hot water. Any oils left on the bowl or beaters can prevent your whites from firming up. You can also just make the macaroons first, and the buttercream second. 
• Pastry bag (or gallon ziploc bag) fitted with a coupler (or you can use a teaspoon).
• Baking sheets
• Parchment sheets

Sift the powdered sugar into a large bowl. Whisk in the almond meal until there are no lumps. 
Beat the egg whites until stiff, wet peaks form (just until the peak holds). 
Fold in the almond sugar mixture 1/3 at a time. 

 

Immediately pour the batter unto your pastry bag. I use a binder clip to keep the batter from running out until I'm ready to pipe. If you're using teaspoons, line your baking sheets with parchment, and start dropping teaspoons of batter about 1" apart. 

Bake at 375' until deeply golden. Depending on your oven, you might want to turn the sheet around halfway through for even baking (my old oven has a hot corner).  You want the cookies good & golden because they are about to encounter a lot of moisture, and need that crunch to stand up to it. Ovens vary, but each batch should take about 15-18 minutes. Cool the cookies on cooling racks. Then gently peel each cookie from the parchment, and flip it over so the flat side is facing up. 

Assembly
Using a teaspoon, spread a mound of buttercream on each cookie, leaving a smooth-ish surface. Once all the cookies are all coated, freeze them for about 30 minutes. This way the buttercream won't melt into the chocolate when you're dipping them. 

Melt about 5oz finely chopped dark chocolate in a double boiler, or as I do, boil a couple inches of water in a sauce pan, and set the bowl of chocolate over it to melt. The water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. The steam will gently melt the chocolate, but DON'T LET ANY WATER GET INTO THE CHOCOLATE. It will seize up and harden. (If that happens, you can add 1T of honey to help remelt it.)

Once the chocolate is melted, remove the bowl from the heat, and set it on the counter next to your macaroons. Now, dip away! Hold onto the sides of the macaroon, dip it into the chocolate, then lift it up, bounce it on the surface of the chocolate, and shake of the excess. Set the dipped macaroons back on the sheet with parchment. Once they're all dipped, but them back in the freezer. Store macaroons for up to a month in an airtight container. 

Христос рождается!