buta kim chee gyoza

You may have noticed, I've been hooked on buta kim chee lately, eating it as donburi, with egg, all kinds of ways. (maybe you are sick of hearing about buta kim chee already?)

Well, bear with me a little longer because I found a new recipe, this time as gyoza (pot stickers). Satoshi loves gyoza, ask him what he wants to eat when we go out and he will mouth "gyoza" every time. The last time I made gyoza from scratch was when Satoshi and I started going out, it was a major disaster. The outside was cooked, but the insides were raw...aagh.

To make these, there are not many ingredients involved and just make sure to have another pair of hands ready to help stuff them. The wrappers can't stay out in the open for too long, or they will dry out. The recipe said to make them like half moons with folded over edges, but since this was messy and difficult, we ended up making them look more like shu mai (steamed dumplings).

Buta kim chee gyoza from "Orange Page's Natsu ni Oishii kondate"

1 package large gyoza wrappers
150g minced pork
80g kim chee w/juices
1 tablespoon nampla (if none, substitute with shoyu (soy sauce)
1 teaspoon sake (rice wine)
oil

1. Mince the kim chee fine and put into a bowl. Add other ingredients and mix well. Divide filling into 20-24 pieces.
2. In the middle of the wrapper, put a piece of the filling (about a teaspoon) in and dab the edges with water. Push out the air while folding and crimping up the edges. It should look like a half moon.
3. Put about 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and heat. Add 10 gyoza and fry for a couple of minutes on one side only. When the bottom is a nice golden brown, add enough water to cover the bottom fourth of the gyoza.
4. Cover the pan and let steam for about 3-4 minutes or until the crackling sound disappears.
5. When all the water is gone, it is ready to take out. Make sure to use a spatula scooping up 5 or 6 at one time and flip the gyoza onto your plate, showing the golden brown side.
6. This recipe makes about 20-24 and do not need a sauce to eat with, just lots of rice and beer!
Be careful as the juices from the kim chee and pork will ooze out when you bite into them.
Enjoy!