Gyoza and home made Ponzu

Tonight was a non-grilling night.  Gyoza is a form of Japanese dumpling similar in concept to the more familiar pot sticker of Chinese dim sum fame.  The differences are minor actually, although the skins of gyoza are almost always thinner than a pot sticker skin.  Here is the recipe.

Gyoza Filling:
1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 lb finely minced prawns
1 cup shredded napa cabbage
1/4 cup chopped green onion, white and some green
1/4 cup finely chopped water chestnut
1/8 cup chopped shiitake mushroom
1/8 cup cilantro

Seasoning mix:
1/2 cup shoyu
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar

Mix all ingredients to create a medium textured filling, well incorporated but do not mash the mixture.  Here they are ready for folding.

The nest step, and the most time consuming is to fold them over, you can do the more fancy fold with pleating to make them stand on edge, we always just folded them in half, which was not the easy way, it was the manner that our family did it.  Like many food of japan, there are regional differences in how things are prepared. Here are the dumplings folded and ready for cooking.

Once they are all done, the pace quickens.  I use a large skillet that can be tightly covered, I find my wok lid fits perfectly over my 12" commercial skillet.  You place the gyoza in the preheated skillet with a nice coating of oil as necessary to brown one side. Once the side is golden brown, you pour 1/2 cup of water and lid the skillet to steam the dumplings done. Here is the final product.

For a dipping or saucing option, I go with a home made ponzu. Commercial ponzu uses the rind of the yuzu, which, as it turns out reacts badly with my system.  So, I make my own with lime juice, lime zest, rice wine vinegar, a small amount of sugar and shoyu to create a dipping sauce. I like to mash in some garlic and green onions to add some flavor.