Cooking for Beginners recipes, structured

Vegetable Gyoza

Cabbage salted and wrung out, mushrooms browned dry, then pleated and cooked by the fry-steam-fry method that gives one crisp face.

Prep
50m
Cook
15m
Waiting
20m
Total
1h 25m
Serves
30 dumplings
Effort
Involved
Scale
30 dumplings
Units

Method

Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.

400 g Salt the cabbage, wait 15 minutes, wring it dry 20m You should get a small cupful of water out. Any left behind bursts the wrappers. Mix the filling and chill it 20 minutes 10m Cold filling is firmer and far easier to pleat around. Pleat the dumplings, sealing with a wet fingertip 30m Pleat one side only and press it against the flat side. Six or seven folds is plenty. Fry, steam, then fry dry again until the base is a single lacy sheet 12m Oil, 2 minutes; water and lid, 6 minutes; lid off until the water is gone and it crackles again.
2 tsp
200 g Fry the mushrooms until they squeak and stop releasing water 8m
1 tbsp
200 g
50 g
1 tbsp
3 cloves
2 tbsp
1 tbsp
2 tsp
1/2 tsp
30
2 tbsp
100 ml
3 tbsp
2 tbsp
1 tsp
Read left to right: ingredients merge into steps, and the rightmost cell is the last thing you do. Steps account for 1h 20m of hands-on and cooking time.

  1. Salt the cabbage, wait 15 minutes, wring it dry

    20m
    • white cabbage 400 g
    • salt 2 tsp

    You should get a small cupful of water out. Any left behind bursts the wrappers.

  2. Fry the mushrooms until they squeak and stop releasing water

    8m
    • shiitake mushrooms 200 g
    • neutral oil 1 tbsp

  3. Mix the filling and chill it 20 minutes

    10m
    • from 1 Salt the cabbage, wait 15 minutes, wring it dry
    • from 2 Fry the mushrooms until they squeak and stop releasing water
    • firm tofu 200 g
    • garlic chives 50 g
    • ginger 1 tbsp
    • garlic 3 cloves
    • light soy sauce 2 tbsp
    • toasted sesame oil 1 tbsp
    • potato starch 2 tsp
    • white pepper 1/2 tsp

    Cold filling is firmer and far easier to pleat around.

  4. Pleat the dumplings, sealing with a wet fingertip

    30m
    • from 3 Mix the filling and chill it 20 minutes
    • gyoza wrappers 30

    Pleat one side only and press it against the flat side. Six or seven folds is plenty.

  5. Fry, steam, then fry dry again until the base is a single lacy sheet

    12m
    • from 4 Pleat the dumplings, sealing with a wet fingertip
    • neutral oil 2 tbsp
    • water 100 ml
    • light soy sauce 3 tbsp
    • rice vinegar 2 tbsp
    • chilli oil (optional) 1 tsp

    Oil, 2 minutes; water and lid, 6 minutes; lid off until the water is gone and it crackles again.

Why the cabbage is salted first

Cabbage is about ninety per cent water held inside intact cells. Salt draws it out osmotically, and wringing the wilted shreds removes a surprising volume — enough that leaving it in would turn the filling to slurry and steam the wrappers apart from the inside. Salting also softens the shreds so they pack tightly rather than poking holes. The cooking method solves the second problem: fry to set a crust, add water and cover so the tops steam through, then drive the water off so the base re-crisps into one connected sheet.

Notes

  • Freeze them raw, spaced out on a tray, then bag them. Cook from frozen with an extra two minutes of steaming.
  • Filling should hold its shape on a spoon. If it slumps, add another teaspoon of potato starch.
  • Wrappers dry out fast. Work with six at a time and keep the rest covered.

Try butter, 30 minutes, braise, or an ingredient you need to use up.