Food: Gyoza with Edamame and Rice

[coraa]

This week's Washoku challenge was pork and wakame (a kind of seaweed) gyoza, served with rice and edamame.

From album

Details beneath the cut!

This one was really pretty easy, although my gyoza-pleating technique could use some work. The recipe started with finely minced leek, one large cabbage leaf finely minced, and a tablespoon of dried wakame (seaweed), mixed together so the wakame absorbed some of the liquid from the cabbage and leek. I had fresh cabbage, but no fresh leek. Fortunately, though, in the spring when I was getting tons of leek in my produce box, I cleaned a couple, minced them fine, packed them into an ice cube tray and froze them solid. So for this, I defrosted a few cubes and was good to go.

Anyway, I mixed the leek and cabbage with a tablespoon of grated carrot, some ground pork, sake, miso, and sesame oil. I then put a teeny amount in the center of each gyoza wrapper, folded it over, and pleated it, until I'd filled enough wrappers for dinner. (I froze the extra pork filling for later.)

Once all the wrappers were full -- and pleated, albeit inexpertly -- I heated a couple teaspoons of sesame oil in a skillet and added the gyozas. I cooked them for 3-4 minutes until brown on the bottom. Then I added some water to the pan and clapped the lid on to let them steam-cook until finished (and until the steam worked them loose from the bottom of the pan). I then removed the lid and let them cook until the liquid had reduced.

Meanwhile, I cooked the edamame in boiling water for 2 minutes, and tossed them with salt.

I served them with white rice (which I'd pre-cooked a few days earlier -- rice seems to cook better in large batches), with a soy and rice wine dipping sauce.

(I cooked the other half of the ground pork -- this recipe only used half a package -- in the same way as the ginger chicken from last month's domburi, and then froze it. So now I have gingered pork for domburi for another meal this week, when I don't feel like cooking.)

It was quite yummy. jmpava was particularly taken with the gyozas, so I think that one's a definite repeat candidate.

Comments

[aquaeri]

Where do you get edamame? I'm rather fond of them in Japanese restaurants so it might be nice to make them at home.

[coraa]

I can get them in the regular grocery store around here -- they're sold in the freezer section in one-pound bags, alongside all the other frozen vegetables. They're very fast and simple to make, too: you just dunk the portion you want (still frozen) in boiling water for a couple of minutes, drain, and toss with salt.

You can theoretically get them fresh, but I never have; the frozen ones are lovely and cook up almost indistinguishable from the kind I get at my local sushi place.

[morganlf.livejournal.com]

I love making gyozas! Yum!

[zalena.livejournal.com]

Mmm... adds recipe to list to try...

Is there a book you are cooking out of?

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Yes! Elizabeth Andoh's "Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen." The recipes have been consistently very good, so far.

[sithjawa.livejournal.com]

oooooooooo! *is now hungry*

[rowr.livejournal.com]

yours look more crispy than mine.. I should have made mine crispier! I agree though, these are a keeper!

[coraa.livejournal.com]

I need to practice my pleating, they were tasty but kinda ugly. But they were very tasty.

(I think mine crisped up a little more because I used a smidge more oil than it called for, too. Because I'm paranoid about them sticking and tearing.)

[foodhoe.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

the crispier the better! I like the recipe too, it's the best tasting dumpling to come out of my kitchen ever.