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！