Chicken Gyoza
Steamed filled asian dumplings are always my go-to starter when I got out for sushi. If gyozas are on any menu, I find it hard to resist. I love them all veggie, chicken, prawn or pork. However, if I had to pick one, it would be chicken. I never thought it would be possible to make these without a bamboo steamer but my Wagamama cookbook came to the rescue and pulled through with a version that you can steam on your regular pan. I made a few tweaks to the original chicken recipe but stuck to the Wagamama method for the actual making of the gyozas. I made about 40 gyozas with this amount of dough. I also made half one day and kept the other half of the dough wrapped in clingfilm in the fridge, and they tasted just as nice the next day. I am sure you could also prep these in advance and keep them in the fridge for up to 2 days until you were ready to cook them.
If you can find gyoza skins ready made, I’m sure this would make the process a lot easier, but I haven’t personally seen any myself in rural Cavan where I live. Making from scratch was a little time consuming, but not difficult.
Ingredients
For chicken filling (makes 30)
1 chicken breast, roughly chopped (or minced chicken if you don’t have a good blender)
4 spring onions (outer skins removed and roughly chopped)
3 cloves garlic (roughly chopped and skin removed)
Thumb sized piece of ginger (grated)
few sprigs fresh coriander
2 tbsp soy sauce
Salt & pepper, to taste.
For gyoza skins (makes 30-40)
240g strong white flour
1/2 tsp salt
120ml boiling water
2 tbsp sesame oil
cornflour (for sprinkling on surfaces).
Method
First make the dough. In a large bowl sift the flour.
Add the salt to your boiling water and gradually add to the flour. Mix by hand using a wooden spoon. Once all the water is added use your hands to see if the dough loosely comes together when pressed using your hands. If it is too dry add a tbsp of extra water at a time until the dough comes together to form a dough that won’t fall apart if you were to begin handling it.
Sprinkle cornflour onto your surface and begin to knead the dough by hand for 10mins. Your dough will start to become smooth and elastic after about 5 mins. Ideally when it is done, when you press your finger on it, it should bounce back slightly.
Cut the dough ball in half and roll each piece into a cylinder/log shape about 9 inches long.
Wrap each log in cling film and set aside to rest for 30 mins.
When your dough is resting make your chicken filling. If you have a food processor simply add all your ingredients and blitz until smooth. If you don’t have a blender, simply use minced chicken and chop your ingredients very small and mush together by hand.
Once the 30 minutes has passed, sprinkle some more cornflour onto your work surface. Cut each log into 12 pieces. Set these pieces aside onto a large place and cover with a damp towel so that they don’t dry out.
Once piece and a time, roll in your hands into a ball shape. Place on the cornfloured work surface and press down with your hands to make a rough circle shape.
Roll out using a rolling pin (being sure to flip to the other side every once it a while so that the dough doesn’t stick). Roll out until about 9cm in a rough circle shape.
Using a 8 or 9cm cookie cutter (or I used a glass) press on your flattened dough to cut an even circle. Remove the excess dough and set aside (I used this dough at the end to make more skins).
Add 1/2 tsp of the chicken filling to the centre of your circle (be careful not to overstuff, or your dumplings will burst open).
Fold over one side to encase the filling and pinch the edges together using a fork.
Repeat the process until all the dough balls / leftover dough is used up.
Heat 2 tbsp sesame oil in a large skillet and place the dumplings in an even layer. Cook for 3 minutes.
After 3 minutes add 60ml cold water to the skillet/pan and quickly put the lid on so that the pan is airtight. The steam will cook the rest of the dumplings so you need to make sure your pan is airtight.
After 3 minutes your dumplings should be ready. Remove the lid and serve immediately with some soy sauce for dipping.
