Perfect as part of an Asian tapas menu, or as impressive canapes. They are fiddly but worth the effort! I devised this recipe after going through a phase of frequenting Wagamama far too often after becoming obsessed with gyzoas – delicious little steamed dumplings served with a soy dipping sauce.
My version uses pheasant but feel free to substitute with chicken or turkey mince.
Warning - do not assemble day ahead unless you plan on freezing them!
Makes about 20
For the gyoza skins
- 300g plain white flour, plus extra for rolling
- ½ tsp fine salt
- 200ml/7fl oz boiling water
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil, for frying
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
Pheasant and pork filling
- 300g pheasant breast minced (whizz in food processer till minced)
- 200g sausage meat or fatty pork mince
- 1 thumb size piece fresh root ginger, peeled, grated
- 3 fat garlic cloves, peeled, crushed
- 2 tbsp chopped spring onion (green part only)
- ½ tsp ground chilli flakes
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 ½ tbsp oyster sauce
- Pinch of sugar
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- Small handful coriander leaves finely chopped
Soy Dipping sauce
- 3 tbsp kikoman soy sauce or dark soy
- 1 tbsp chilli oil
- 1 tsp sesame oil
Method
For the gyoza skins, sift the flour into a large bowl and mix in the salt. Stir in the boiling water gradually using a knife until the mixture comes together as a dough. Knead for 3 minutes.
Roll the dough into a ball, cover with cling film and set aside to rest for one hour.
Meanwhile, for the pheasant filling, mix all of the filling ingredients together in a large mixing bowl until well combined (the ingredients will form a gloopy paste). Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Chill in the fridge until needed. Fry a little to test the seasoning!
For the gyoza skin, turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for five minutes until smooth and elastic (you can use the dough hook attachment of a food processor for this).
Cut the dough in half, roll out one of the balls onto a lightly floured work surface, stretching and turning the dough as you go, until the gyoza dough is as thin as possible almost transparent.
Use a small cookie cutter to stamp out into small 10 cm rounds, or roll out individually.
To assemble the dumplings, hold a gyoza skin in the palm of your hand and add one teaspoon of the filling mixture. Wet the edges with a little water using your fingertip and seal the dumpling, pinching along the edges to create a pleated fan effect (the end result should resemble a mini Cornish pasty). Repeat the process until all of the filling mixture and gyoza skins have been used up, setting each dumpling aside on a plate dusted with flour.
To cook the dumplings, heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan with a lid over a high heat. Arrange the gyoza in the pan, in batches if necessary, leaving space between each one, and fry for 2-3 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden-brown. Take care as they will burn quickly.
Add 100ml/3½fl oz of veg stock to the pan cover with the lid and steam the dumplings for a further two minutes.
Give the pan a shake to release the gyoza from the bottom of the pan and continue to cook for a further two minutes with the lid off, until the filling is completely cooked through.
Meanwhile, mix all of the dipping sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside.
When the gyoza are cooked through, drizzle the sesame oil around the edges of the frying pan and shake the pan. Serve the gyozas immediately with the dipping sauce.
