Vegetable Gyoza Recipe (Dumplings)

My oriental tea - miso soup, red pepper maki, cucumber and sesame futomaki and vegetable gyoza. NOM!

Yesterday I made vegetable gyoza while on my pregnancy-craving-for-oriental-food rampage. So I'm going to share how I made them because they were delicious! They're so simple to make and you can also freeze them, so great to prepare before you have friends/guests coming over for lunch.


Ingredients - Makes about 14 gyoza / dumplings

• 100gms plain flour
• 85mls of cold water
• Shredded vegetables of your choice, I used carrots, parsnip, cabbage, onion
• 1-2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil
• Sesame seeds
• Chili flakes

Preparation Method

1. Make the batter by mixing the flour and water together with a fork until blended. The dough will be really sticky at this point but that's fine. Cover the container you mixed the dough in with a damn tea towel and let it rest while you make the filling.
2. Make the filling by shredding/grating all the vegetables into very fine pieces. It may help to steep the cabbage if you use it in water to make it softer and easier to pack into the gyoza.
3. Add the oils, chili and sesame seeds to the vegetables and mix really well. If they're not all coated completely with the sauce add a little more soy.
4. Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured surface and separate into manageable pieces. Use a rolling pin to roll out into thin sheets - around 2mm thick and cut with a circular cookie cutter.
   *A tip when rolling: roll the dough gently on one side, flour it completely on top and turn over to roll the other side. Repeat like this and the dough will be less likely to stick to the rolling pin and your surface. It doesn't matter how much flour is on the surface of the dough as this will disappear with cooking.
5. Lay the circles on a floured try and one by one pick them up in floured hands. Place a small teaspoon on filling into the centre and crimp the edges closed. The resulting gyoza will look a little bit like an elongated clam shell.
6. When full, place the gyoza back on the floured sheet until ready to be cooked.

Cooking Method

1. Prepare a large pan of boiling water. Ensure the water is boiling rapidly when you carefully place the gyoza in.
2. Keep them moving in the pan by stirring the water gently and down allow them to sink or touch the side of the pan as they will stick!
3. Boil for 3-4 minutes and remove from the water. 
4. If you prefer your batter crunchier, fry quickly in a few tablespoons of sunflower/sesame oil on each side.
5. Serve immediately with a dipping sauce of soy and sesame oil.

Storing Gyoza

1. Always store gyoza in its pre-cooked state.
2. Place on a floured try and keep them in the refrigerator for 24 hours
3. Place on a floured try and put in the freezer. Ensure they are not touching as they will stick together. Once completely frozen, you can put them all in the same box or bag and they won't stick together.
4. To cook from frozen use the same method as above.

ENJOY!