RESTAURANT QUALITY Gyoza Potstickers

Dear Readers, I am so excited to share my restaurant quality pan fried Japanese gyoza recipe. There is no need to go out for dinner dumplings when you can make these pork and cabbage gyoza at home at a fraction of the price! These dumplings are perfect for Lunar New Year dinners coming up as dumplings are considered good luck! This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader.

Gyoza dumplings are the Japanese version of Chinese Jiaozi dumplings. They were introduced to Japan by soldiers returning from China during its invasion and colonisation. Usually they're filled with a mixture of pork and cabbage and you get these at many Japanese restaurants. I know technically Japanese new year isn't the same as Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year but I made these around this time and they were so good that I had to share them now! In the past most of East Asia celebrated new year in terms of the Lunar calendar, Japan included but during the Meiji Era, as part of its move toward Westernisation, the Japanese government adopted the Gregorian calendar with January 1 as the start of the Japanese New Year!

Gyoza recipes are all very similar and are made with pork, cabbage, ginger, garlic and scallions or chives. They're a simple but filling and tasty snack to eat and Mr NQN can eat 2 dozen of these in a go without blinking (I agree, we should probably get him checked for worms ;) ). They can be steamed or pan fried and we particularly love them panfried.

Tips For Making Gyoza

1 - An assembly line of people usually makes this task go quickly but this is no means unsurmountable if solo. Put on your favourite podcast (for me My Favorite Murder!) and get folding.

2 - I prefer using wombok or Napa cabbage for gyoza filling as it is softer. A baby wombok/Napa is usually the perfect size for this recipe.

3 - Let the filling rest and firm up in the fridge. It makes it less sloppy and easier to fill when its firm.

4 - Pleating the dumplings is usually the biggest challenge but once you get a hold of it, it's very easy. You don't need fancy folds and you can even use a dumpling press which will give you decent results. Just make sure to lay them flat on the tray so that you get a nice base to crisp up.

5 - You can cook these dumplings so many different ways: steaming, boiling, pan frying or deep frying.

6 - These dumplings can be frozen for up to 3 months. For instructions on how to freeze them, see recipe below.

7 - To cook gyoza from frozen add 3 minutes to the cooking time.

• Xiao Long Bao Shanghai Soup Dumplings
• NQN's mum's famous wontons
• Chinese New Year Pink Dumplings
• Crispy gyoza lace dumplings

We've been eating so many of these dumplings over the past few weeks and Mr NQN is very happy about that. The last time I ate dumplings at a restaurant was with Monica a couple of weeks ago. We were going to a Northern Chinese restaurant in Burwood and she picked me up at 1pm with a cheeky smile on her face. "I got you something," she said handing me a bag.

I opened it up and there was a tshirt saying "I Love Italian boys" with a picture of Luigi Mangione.

"OMG I love it! Best present ever!" I said excitedly.

We drove to the restaurant but when we arrived the weather had changed from overcast to bright and sunny. We stripped off our layers which included my winter coat that I got out of storage because I thought it was cold. "I'm going to wear my new tshirt," I said and donned the Luigi shirt on top of my outfit. Admittedly my original outfit was a poorly planned for slurpy soup noodles as it involved white jeans. Monica had a white and green striped shirt. People looked at my t-shirt but not unkindly, just with curiosity.

And you know what they say that white clothes eat food? They do and poor Monica got splashes of noodle sauce and dumplings on her shirt. The Luigi tshirt was long enough to wear as a dress so I pulled it down over my jeans and I didn't get a splash of anything on it which was honestly a first for noodle and dumpling eating!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you spill things easily on you? And do you agree that white clothing eats food?

RESTAURANT QUALITY Gyoza!

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Makes: 50 gyoza

• 400g/14ozs Wombok/Napa cabbage (a baby one works well here)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 500g/1.1lb pork mince (not too lean)
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons minced ginger
• 25g/1oz chives or green spring onions, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornflour/fine cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• Salt for seasoning
• 50 pieces gow gee wrappers
• 6 tablespoons oil
• You will also need 50ml/1.7floz water for each batch

Step 1 - Very finely shred the cabbage and place in a bowl. Sprinkle the salt all over it, toss with your hands to combine and rest for 20 minutes to allow the water to draw out of it. Place a third of the cabbage in a double layer of paper towels and squeeze as much water as possible out of the cabbage. Then place the drained cabbage in a large bowl. Repeat with the remaining cabbage.

Step 2 - To a large bowl add the pork mince, garlic, ginger, chives, sugar, cornflour, white pepper and sesame oil and mix well with your hands kneading the mixture until it starts to come together to form a paste. Fry a teaspoon or so of this filling (or I usually pop it in the microwave) and taste for seasoning. Usually I need to add 1/2 teaspoon of salt just to season it. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Pinch centre and then pleat 4-5 times on the front from the left to the right. Then reverse it starting from the centre right to left. The back pastry stays unfolded while the front pastry is pleated.

Step 3 - Line 2 trays with parchment. Take a gow gee wrapper and place 1-2 teaspoons of filling in it. Brush water along the edge on one side and then pinch together at the centre top. Pleat from the centre to the outside outside using one thumb and pointer finger to fold and the opposite hand's thumb to press down. This takes practice so don't worry if your first few aren't perfect. You can also use a dumpling press too, the shape is slightly different but it's faster and easier. Place on the gyozas on the tray and repeat until all of the filling is used.

At this stage you can steam these or pan fry them. If steaming, steam the gyoza for 10 minutes until cooked in the centre.

Step 4 - To pan fry gyoza, heat a large frying pan (one with a lid) on to medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and place the gyoza flat side down to pan fry the bottoms until golden and crisp. Then place the lid on and using a jug pour 50ml/1.7flozs water into the pan (to avoid it spitting, just slide the lid off a smidgen and pour the water down the side). Place the lid on and cook for 3 minutes. Then remove the lid - the water should have completely evaporated by now (if not, drain the water) and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Serve with chilli crisp oil. I like using the chilli crisp in this recipe.

To freeze the uncooked dumplings, lay them in a single layer in the freezer and cover with cling film. Freeze for 60 minutes. When completely frozen, place in a zip lock bag. When pan frying from frozen, add another 3 minutes cooking time after you add water to the pan and place the lid on.