Saturday, June 13, 2009

Exotic Gyoza







aka plain old Chinese dumplings/potstickers (gyoza in Japanese)..
This was the Daring cooks challenge for the month of June and my first Daring Kitchen entry ! You are given a challenge on 1st of the month by a member , along with the recipe and you need to keep it a top secret till the release date i.e 14th ! There is a forum for members though where we can share questions, suggestions and also post our trials ..I feel like I belong to those super secret clubs...unravelling mysteries....yeah...delicious culinary mysteries here ;)

Jen asked/ordered us to make Chinese dumplings, alright no biggie...but .....with home made wrappers..that was the real challenge...I have tried dumplings before , but with those wrappers available in super markets and Ive found it a real chore to shape,mould and stick those dry wrappers....but no worries now...I dont need no pre-made wrappers now !! The one in the recipe came out to be so perfect and so easy that I will never, ever get those store brought pale replacements anymore.....
Also, Ive only tried making steamed dumplings before as I try to stay away from deep-frying...but apparently there is a delicious compromise between steaming and deep -frying which makes these amazing pot-stickers ! I fell in love with that name itself..how obvious and how delicious :))

The recipe for 
dough:
1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (113g) warm water
flour for worksurface
dipping sauce:
2 parts soy sauce
1 part vinegar (red wine or black)
a few drops of sesame oil
chili garlic paste (optional)
minced ginger (optional)
minced garlic (optional)
minced green onion (optional)
sugar (optional)
Make the dough: In a large bowl mix flour with 1/4 cup of water and stir until water is absorbed. Continue adding water one teaspoon at a time and mixing thoroughly until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. We want a firm dough that is barely sticky to the touch.
To pan fry (potstickers): Place dumplings in a frying pan with 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Heat on high and fry for a few minutes until bottoms are golden. Add 1/2 cup water and cover. Cook until the water has boiled away and then uncover and reduce heat to medium or medium low. Let the dumplings cook for another 2 minutes then remove from heat and serve.

The filling was upto our choice , and I made one with green onions, tofu, carrot , mushroom and another with potatoes which is like the samosa filling. Both turned out to be great and I declare my 1st daring cooks challenge to be a resounding sucess :)

7 comments:

  1. I love the filling of the dumpling, looks good

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  2. Congrats on your first DC challenge. And yes half steamed and half fried yes makes one perfect recipe. Great pixs. Yours from Australia, Audax

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  3. Congrats on a first challenge more than well done! I love your fillings! Great job and beautiful dumplings :)

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  4. You've done a great job with this challenge. You filling sounds outstanding. It was a fun challenge, wasn't it. I hope you have a wonderful day.

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  5. Oh wow love that spicy filling...looks yum...

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  6. Great job. Those dumplings look fantastic.

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  7. Your version looks great. I signed up for daring bakers this month but haven't had the courage to do daring cooks as well.

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