Dumplings:
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- ½ leek
- 3 small carrots
- 1 spring onion
- 300 grams of soft tofu
- Gyoza wrappers (or make your own, see steps below)
Make your own gyoza wrappers by mixing flour, water, and salt. I am using about 2 cups of flour and ½ a cup of warm water. Then I roll out my dough in corn starch so it doesn’t stick. And that’s it.
Sauce:
- 5 tbsps of soy sauce
- 2 tbsps of sesame oil
- 3 tbsps of crushed chilli/garlic paste (or chilli of your choice)
- Top with sesame seeds and spring onion
So now we’re taking shortcuts, through all your veggies into a food processor. I am using leek, carrots, garlic, onion, and spring onion and the last bits of chives from the previous dish
And give that a proper blend, easy and mess-free food prep
Now here’s another tip, put your ginger in the freezer. I keep it there before otherwise it goes bad before I can use it all, this way, I manage to use everything, then scrape the peel off where I want to use it with a knife and place it back into the freezer once I am done using it
For this dish we’re using soft tofu, not silken tofu, but soft, it goes in the food processor as well.
Once everything is well combined, it doesn’t have to be a smooth paste, I actually prefer it not to be, you transfer it to a pot on medium heat with some sesame oil and cook most of the water out of it, takes 10ish minutes and then you’re left with a more concentrated and flavourful filling. Which you will let cool completely before moving on. This can even be made the day before if you fancy.
Now easy recipes don’t involve making gyoza skins from scraps, however, I would like to say.. it’s really not that difficult, it’s a basic dough with flour, water and salt then you knead until smooth and then you roll out your skins. You can also buy them pre-made. In my experience, the pre-made skins need a bit longer in the steamer, so do be aware of that, but either option is fine.
Now this is the part we’re not going to overthink, wet the edges of the dough, place the filling in the middle and close like a half moon, then pinch the middle of the top and work your way down one side, and then the other. It does not have to be perfect, it likely won’t on the first try, but it’ll get better. I still have some techniques to nail down, but I keep learning.
Place the dumplings in the steamer with a few inches of close-to-boiling water and close the lid. This took a few minutes, and then they were ready to serve!
I am making an easy and simple chilli oil for this, using soy sauce, sesame oil and chilli/garlic paste, mix that and drench the dumplings. I also added black sesame seeds and chopped spring onion on top for presentation vibes and flavour and that is it
I recommend making a ton of these and freezing them so you always have an easy meal on hand, serve them like this or add a couple to your noodle soup
