JAPANESE BEEF DUMPLINGS RECIPES

Steps:

• Dice cabbage finely and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt. Give it a bit of a massage. Leave for 10–15 minutes and then squeeze with your hands to remove any moisture.
• With your hands thoroughly mix together cabbage, ground meat, chives, mushrooms, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil and pinch of salt.
• Dry your hands completely (or wrappers will stick). Place a gyoza wrapper on one hand and put 1 teaspoon filling in centre of wrapper.
• Brush edge of half the wrapper with cold water. Make a semi-circle by folding the wrapper in half. Pinch open sides of wrapper together with your fingers and seal the top.
• Place a large frying pan over medium-high heat, add 2 teaspoons sesame oil and arrange 20–25 gyoza in pan. Add 200ml water to cover bottom of pan, cover with lid and cook on medium-high heat for 6–7 minutes or until translucent, cooked and no liquid is left in pan. Take off lid and cook for another 30–60 seconds for the bottoms to go crunchy. Cook remaining gyoza or freeze them.
• Mix together soy sauce, vinegar and chilli oil, if using. Serve gyoza hot with dipping sauce.

Steps:

• Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the boiling water and salt. Mix with chopsticks, adding a little more water as you go, then when the mixture is cool enough, mix with your hands until you have a smooth dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth then place in a clean bowl, cover with a cloth and set aside for 30 minutes.
• Mix all the ingredients for the filling together, stirring in one direction only. Mix together the ingredients for the dipping sauce and set aside.
• Turn the dough onto a floured board, knead until smooth then divide into two pieces. Roll each piece into a cylinder about 2.5cm / 1" diameter and cut each cylinder into 12 pieces. Take each piece, roll it thinly and cut into a circle about 6cm / 2 1/2" diameter.
• Place a little of the filling in the centre of the circle and moisten the rim of the dough with a little water. Bring the sides of the dough together and seal, taking care not to split the dough. Gently crimp the sealed dough with your fingers and set aside. Repeat with the rest of the dough and the filling.
• Heat two tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a wide pan and fry the dumplings on their flat bases for 3-4 minutes. Add a small cup of water, place a lid on the pan and steam the dumplings for 2-3 minutes or until the filling is cooked through.
• Carefully remove the dumplings from the pan and serve immediately with the dipping sauce alongside.