In an attempt to regain some street cred, I decided to make gyoza for my creation today.

Dough
2 parts flour, 1 part water.
(I used 2 cups of flour and a cup of water to make around 2 dozen medium sized gyoza)

Boil the water and then let it cool for about five minutes and then pour it into the flour, stirring it in. Mix it with the spoon and let it cool enough to handle, then knead it for about 5 minutes until it feels soft and pliable like your earlobe.

Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rest for an hour.

Roll it into a long snake and then cut it into one inch pieces.
Filling:

About one quarter of a cabbage
500g ground/minced pork
1/2 of a medium sized onion, finely minced
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely minced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar.

Chop up the cabbage really fine, sprinkle with salt and let it sit in a collander/sieve for an hour. Rinse off the salt and squeeze out the liquid.

Mix all the ingredients and allow to rest for 30 min. Stir well before using.

Gyoza

Roll your chunks of dough into circles with the edges nice and thin.

Place a teaspoon of filling in the center and then fold the dough in half to make a half moon. Pinch the edges together to make little pleats. Make sure they are well sealed. Place each one on a tray with plenty of flour to make sure they don’t stick. You can leave them to rest until dinner time or even freeze them at this point. (If you freeze them, don’t thaw them before cooking, just double the cooking time.)

Heat a frying pan or wok to medium-high heat. Add a teaspoon of sesame oil (or mix sesame and cheap oil if sesame oil is outrageously expensive like it is here). Place the gyoza (making sure not to crowd them) and allow them to fry for a few minutes until the undersides are becoming golden. DO NOT FLIP! Just make sure they are not sticking to the pan.

Add cold water, enough to come almost up to the pleated edges of the gyoza and put a lid on the pan. Allow to steam for 3-6 minutes, depending on size and how nervous you are about cooking pork through.

Remove the lid and fry for a few minutes more, until all the water has evaporated. Remove from pan and serve immediately with soy sauce for dipping.

Yum. :)

This is one of my favourite summer dishes and especially delicious if you can find good soba noodles! I’ve made it with coloured spaghetti in a pinch. If you are using soba noodles be SURE to wash them after you cook them. A Japanese friend of mine complains that Westerners make the most horrendous soba because we treat the noodles like spaghetti and barely give them a quick rinse. You should actually wash them in cold water to get the starch off, using your hands to move the noodles around the colander.

You can add the vegetables of your choice – spinach leaves, corn, chopped green peppers and even (cooked) peas – anything like that fits in just fine.

If you want to get exciting, add finely chopped garlic and ginger to the dressing.

75 g soba noodles
3 Tbs wakame (reconstituted)
5 tsp vegetable oil
1 large dash of soy sauce
1 carrot, julienned
75 g beansprouts or chopped cabbage or veg of your choice
1 green onion, chopped
Dressing:
1 part lemon juice
1 part soy sauce
1/2 part sesame oil

Cook the soba noodles in boiling water as per the packaging, usually around 5 minutes. Tip the noodles into a sieve and wash under cold running water, agitating the noodles to get rid of the starch. Allow to drain.

Mix all the salad ingredients in a bowl and pour just enough dressing on top to coat the salad without leaving puddles. Serve immediately.