As you may have figured, I love Asian food. Any of it it. All of it. Dumplings are a staple, easy to make and so fucking good.

I love making gyoza because they’re pretty quick to throw together, but you can also use the meat for a bunch of different things if you get fed up wrapping the dumplings.

What you need:

• 1/2 a head of napa cabbage, finely minced
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 2 ounces minced scallions (about 3 whole scallions)
• 2 tsp sugar

• 1 package dumpling wrappers
• Vegetable or canola oil for cooking

1. In a small sautee pan, cook cabbage until softened. Transfer to a mesh strainer or bowl to cool. Once cooled, squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the cabbage. We want this to be as dry as possible, don’t go too crazy tho.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients to a bowl and mix. On a microwave safe plate, or in a fry pan, quickly cook about 1 tbsp of the mixture and taste. Adjust accordingly. Since we can’t adjust seasoning later, it’s better to find out now!
3. Add about 1 tbsp of filling to a wrapper, trace the edge with water and fold. (here is a video link of how to fold gyoza) I am lazy and do not fold mine correctly, and really, as long as it’s sealed it doesn’t matter how you fold em!

To Cook: Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a medium non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add as many dumplings as will fit in a single layer and cook until evenly golden brown on the bottom surface, about 1 1/2 minutes.

Increase heat to medium-high, add 1/2 cup of water and cover tightly with a lid. Let dumplings steam for 3 minutes (5 minutes if frozen), then remove lid. Continue cooking, swirling pan frequently and using a thin spatula to gently dislodge the dumplings if they’ve stuck to the bottom of the pan, until the water has evaporated and the dumplings have crisped again, about 2 minutes longer.

Enjoy!

I folded what I could tolerate, and packed the rest of the mix away into two bags. I laid out the gyoza onto a single sheet and placed the baking sheet into the freezer. Once frozen, transfer them into ziploc bags.

The extra meat I use for stir fries, noodle dishes, or even Asian style burgers!

Gyoza burger!