Looking for a dish to wow your guests on New Year’s Eve? Try your hand at Japanese gyoza dumplings with the help of chef Shinji Moroto from Shin in Coventry.
Born in Japan, Shinji Moroto has trained under the strictest of oyajisan (mentors) and worked with the most knowledgeable of Japanese chefs. As a young man his inspiration was chef Matsura, who dedicated his life to perfecting the art of Japanese cooking, spending five years learning each type of specialism and working his way up to head chef each time.
Shinji himself loves passing on his skills and has shared his knowledge with some well-known household names, cooking for Jenson Button and Takuma Sato at the Formula 1 in Sao Paulo, and showing Rick Stein how to roll and cut sushi. Apparently the trick is to make sure your hands are wet or, if using kitchen gloves, to put a little olive oil on them so that the rice doesn’t stick.
Skilled though he is at making sushi, Shinji’s favourite aspect of cooking is the ‘hot section’ – pan-frying, steaming, stewing and baking. Who better, then, to teach us how to make these traditional gyoza dumplings?
Pork gyoza
Ingredients
- 500 g vegetables (carrots, cabbage, shiitake mushrooms)
- 1 leek
- 15 g garlic
- 20 g ginger
- salt and pepper
- soy sauce
- 1 kg pork mince
- gyoza skins
- 1 tbsp oil
Method
- Finely chop the vegetables, and, separately, the leek, garlic and ginger.
- Pre-cook the vegetables then add salt, pepper and soy sauce to taste.
- Add the leek, garlic and ginger, along with the pork mince, and mix well.
- The filling is done and you are ready to start filling the gyoza skins. Make the dumplings one by one by placing a gyoza skin in the palm of your hand. Spoon about a teaspoon of the filling onto the pastry and, with your finger, lightly wet the edges with water (this will help the pastry stick together). Now seal the dumpling by pinching the edges together. Repeat this process until you have used up all the mixture and/or all the gyoza skins.
- To cook the gyozas, put little bit of oil in a frying pan, and, on a high heat, cook the gyozas until they are a nice golden-brown colour on the bottom. Now add a little water and put a lid on the pan for 5–6 minutes until all the water has evaporated.
And voilà! Or dekiagari, as they say in Japan!
There are more New Year’s Eve recipes this way…
Your guide to New Year’s Eve vegetarian canapes
Get creative with your leftovers
Fuss free vegan recipes for Christmas and New Year
