Fuss Free Flavours

It is Daring Cook challenge time again!   It only seems like a few days ago that I was making tofu ricotta gnocchi (I made them ages ago, but posted late).  I am also writing this on the 5th June and setting an autopost so it appears along with all the others on the right day when I shall be on holiday.

Our host for June was Jen from Use Real Butter who chose Chinese  dumplings / potstickers or gyoza for the challenge, saying that they were  ”something that looks daunting, but is actually pretty straightforward. It’s the first recipe I cut my culinary teeth on when I left home for college and the flexibility makes it a good candidate for the Daring Cooks “.  We love gyoza and it is a regular in the Fuss Free Kitchen (my last ones were sweet and fruit filled), I usually buy packets of dumpling wrappers from the Chinese supermarket and I also have the cutest gyoza press from the Japan Centre in London, which together makes making goyza a fuss free breeze! 

Not this time however!  Jen’s instructions were clear that we would be making our gyoza wrappers from scratch and assembling them by hand!  Not to be deterred I rolled up my sleeves, donned an apron and got stuck in.  I used Jen’s basic wrapper recipe below and filled my gyoza with a mix of prawns, chives, sweetcorn and a few capers.   The dipping sauce was equal quantites of sweet chilli and soy sauce with a teaspoon of  sesame seeds thrown in.

Gyoza Dough*

2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (113g) warm water
flour for worksurface

*I halved this and made 16 gyoza wyhich was perfect for 2.

Make the dough: In a large bowl mix flour with 1/4 cup of water and stir until water is absorbed. Continue adding water one teaspoon at a time and mixing thoroughly until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. We want a firm dough that is barely sticky to the touch.

Shape the gyoza wrappers: Knead the dough about twenty strokes then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes. Take the dough and form a flattened dome. Cut into strips about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Shape the strips into rounded long cylinders. On a floured surface, cut the strips into 3/4 inch pieces. Press palm down on each piece to form a flat circle (you can shape the corners in with your fingers). With a rolling pin, roll out a circular wrapper from each flat disc. Take care not to roll out too thin or the dumplings will break during cooking – about 1/16th inch. Leave the centers slightly thicker than the edges. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of each wrapper and fold the dough in half, pleating the edges along one side. Keep all unused dough under damp cloth.

I fried and then steamed my dumplings and served with the dipping sauce.   Delicious.

Notes:

 I really enjoyed making these, I did roll out the wrappers slightly too thin and too large and some of the filling leaked in the cooking, the assembled pot stickers also stuck to the plate I had lined them up on before cooking.  We will be having these again, but I think that I may stick to bought wrappers in future – and certainly use my gyoza press!