Steaming the top while frying the bottom to crispy goodness

This post is by Kay, who writes the K’s Kitchen section of Todd’s Wanderings. She also happens to be Todd’s lovely wife!

“What is your fiancé’s favorite food?” This was one of my hen night questions. ‘Gyoza!’ (normally called potstickers in English). I got the answer right and at the same time I became determined that I had to cook this dish very well all the time! [Todd here, isn't Kay a lovely wife?! I am a lucky man.] Well, the truth is that I also love Gyoza, but the problem is that we can’t buy the Gyoza skin in Kosovo. If we want to eat something we have to find a way, so I started making Gyoza from the scratch! If you have a Chinese (or Japanese/Korean) store near by, you can simply buy the skin (it is much easier and takes less time).

In Japan we usually fry them in a pan. This is a very satisfying dish and goes very well with beer [another of Todd's favorites] as well as with steamed white rice. Be careful, it’s addictive! I hope you enjoy the goyza recipe and eating them even more!

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Ingredients (for 3-4 people / 32 pieces)

Dough

It takes some time but it's worth it!

Flour 400cc: The ratio of Strong (Bread) Flour and Weak Flour is 300cc:100cc

Salt: 1/2 teaspoon

Hot water: 150-160cc

If you find the ready-made Gyoza skins at the Chinese/Japanese store, you can simply use them to save time.

Meat Filling

Ground pork: 200g

Water: 2 Tablespoon

Sake (Japanese alcohol): 2 Tablespoons (if you don’t have Sake, you can substitute with water)

Egg: 1 beaten

Chinese cabbage: 5 leaves (or you can substitute with regular cabbage)

Chinese chive: 2 Tablespoons (chopped after water poured). If you can’t find it, you can skip

Lard: 1 Tablespoon (you can substitute with vegetable oil but a bit less amount)

Ginger: 1 Tablespoon finely chopped

Leek: 1 Tablespoon finely chopped

Garlic: 1/2 Tablespoon finely chopped

Spices

It doesn't take long to learn how to fold the skins.

Soya sauce: 1 Tablespoon

Salt: 1/2 Teaspoon

Sake: 1 Tablespoon (if you don’t have Sake, you can substitute with water)

Pepper: a pinch

Sugar: a pinch

Sesame oil: 1 Tablespoon

Corn (rice) Starch: 1 Tablespoon

Dip

Chili oil (or Rayu):

Soya sauce

Vinegar

How to cook (cooking and preparation time: including Gyoza skins: 2hrs/ with ready-made skins: 45 min)

(1)  Shift flour in a bowl, add salt and hot water and knead the dough very well for about 15-20 min. Wrap with a wet cloth and leave it for 20-30 min.

(2)  Boil Chinese cabbage, chop finely, wrap with a cloth and squeeze to drain water.

(3)  Pour hot water on the Chinese chives and cut them finely. Finely cut ginger, leek, and garlic.

(4)  Put ground pork in a bowl and mix by hand adding water little by little followed by Sake and a beaten egg. Mix very well until the meat is sticky.

These are unbelievable with beer. Oh, I'm so hungry now.

(5)  Add Spices, ginger, leek, and garlic and continue mixing well. Add Chinese cabbage and chives, and pour sesame oil. After mixing them all, put Corn starch. Put the bowl in the fridge for a while.

(6)  Take out the dough and shape it to a long bar shape. Cut this bar into 32 pieces.

(7)  Flatten each piece and spread it with a rolling pin to a width of 8cm circle.

(8)  Wrap the meat ingredients in the middle of round dough, fold into half, put water around the inside edge to act like glue, and put the edges together by making pleats around. To do this start on the left side and pleat corner then keep make progressive folds until you reach the right side.

(9)  Heat the frying pan on high heat, add oil, and line up Gyoza pieces. As soon as you put all the Gyoza down, add 1/2 Cup of hot water and cover with a lid. Cook until water evaporates, pour in a little oil and keep the pan on the stove for 1 minute to make the bottom crispy.

That’s all!!  Make the dipping sauce and eat with the sauce!

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Its not as confusing at it sounds! if you have any questions ask away, otherwise report back and let us know how it goes.

If you liked the this post, K’s Kitchen or Todd’s Wanderings in general, we would love for your to share this with a friend (options are below).

How to make Japanese Gyoza (in Chinese Jyaozi/ in English Potstickers) is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

This post is by: Kay (my lovely wife and writer for K’s Kitchen!)

Is it only kids who love fried chicken? Nope! I still love fried chicken and this ‘Yu Lin Chi’ is even more special for adults because it goes well with chilled beer!! This dish is popular among EVERYONE-drinkers and non-drinkers, adults and children.

The ‘Yu Lin Chi’ recipe is also from my mom which I learned more than 13 years ago. Having lived outside Japan for 10 years, I’ve been absent from my mom’s cooking class (yes, she teaches cooking), but I still get her recipes from time to time and try out new dishes. It is not always easy to cook some dishes without the right ingredients but I’ve learned how to substitute some ingredients with other items by now! The beauty of this ‘Yu Lin Chi’ is that you can cook with generally available ingredients. OK. Here we go!

Ingredients (for 2 people)

Chicken thigh: 400g

Leak: 1/3 of a long leak (finely chopped)

Yummy, yummy Yu Lin Chi Special Chicken Sauce!

Ginger: 1/2 Tablespoon (finely chopped)

Lettuce 5-6 leaves

(a) Marinade for chicken

Salt:1/3 teaspoon

Soy sauce: 2 teaspoons

Sake: 1Tablespoon

Pepper to taste

(b) Special Sauce

Soy sauce: 3 Tablespoons

Vinegar: 2 Tablespoons

Sugar: 2.5 Tablespoons

Sesame oil: 1 teaspoon

Chicken broth (or clear soup with the stock): 1Tablespoon

How to cook (preparation time: 15 min; cooking time: 20 min)

(1)  Cut the chicken to open it up and keep the thickness even.

(2)  Marinade the meat with (a) for 5-10 minutes, just long enough to give it a nice coating.

(3)  Finely chop the leak and ginger, and tear the lettuce into pieces.

(4)  Put the ingredients for sauce together in a small bowl.

(5)  Heat oil, enough to cover the chicken, up to 160 C (315 F) and throw in the chicken (well don’t throw or you’ll get burned by the oil!). Keep the flame of the stove in the middle range until the center of the chicken is cooked fully.

(6)  Turn up the heat for a minute to make the chicken crispy.

(7)  Put the chicken on top of a bed of lettuce on the plate. Pour on the sauce. That’s all!

If you like to eat with rice, please check how to cook rice in the recipe for Nishoku Gohan.

Was that easy? Delicious? Tell us how tasty it was, or how it all went horribly, horribly wrong

This post is part of the Lonely Planet BlogSherpa Travel Blog Carnival hosted this time by Kat over at Tie Dye Travels on Food Around the World. The Carnival is hosted every two weeks by a BlogSherpa member. The topic this time is Food Around the World. I hosted one here earlier on Todd’s Wanderings about Travel Safety.

Chinese Fried Chicken with special sauce- Yu Lin Chi is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

Japanese dish Nishoku Gohan ("two colored rice")

When it comes to Japanese food, many non-Japanese tend to think that Sushi is the only Japanese food and it’s hard to cook in their home country without having the right ingredients. To break this image, I will be introducing some Easy, Quick, and Tasty Japanese foods. Please note that they may not be authentic Japanese, but they are definitely popular among all Japanese across all age groups!

Today, I am introducing you to Donburi Menu called ‘Nishoku Gohan’. Donburi is a big rice bowl and Donburi menu refers to a dish that has a topping over a bed of rice in the big bowl. Nishoku-Gohan literary means ‘two-colored rice’ referring to rice with two colored toppings, which is one of the easiest dishes to cook and does not require different kinds of unusual Japanese ingredients. This is Todd’s and my ‘Comfort Food’.

Ingredients (for 2 people) Prep and cooking time: 15-20 minutes. Yes, it’s that fast!

2 cups of rice (Japanese, Thai, or California type of rice) and 2.4 cups of water

Nori-Seaweed (if available)

Meat topping

Minced meat (pork/chicken/beef- as you like) 200g

4 tablespoons of soy sauce

3 teaspoons of sugar

1 tablespoon of sliced ginger

If available, 1tablespoon of cooking sake (but not essential)

Tip: If the soy sauce is already sweet, you may want to put less sugar. Heinz soy sauce is usually already sweet enough. Kikkoman needs the sugar.

Egg topping

3 Large eggs

3 teaspoons of sugar

Pinch of salt

Rice: (if you have a rice cooker, skip this section but don’t forget to wash the rice!)

Wash rice about 5 times (or until the water is more or less clear). Add 2.4 cups of water (you need to cook rice with 20% more water). (Tip: It is suggested to soak the rice in water for 30 min to 1hr, but it’s not essential). Cook rice with a lid on a regular flame until it starts boiling. Turn down the flame slightly sliding the lid off a bit. Cook until the water evaporates (taste the rice to see if it is soft enough) turn off the stove and let it sit with the lid on for 5 min.

p.s. 2 cups of rice maybe too much for 2 portions of Donburi-menu, however, it is suggested to cook at least 2 cups of rice or else the rice will not turn out well. Save the extra for rice balls the next day (recipe coming soon!).

Preparing the meat

Meat topping

Put all the ingredients in a small pot, break up the meat while mixing, and cook until the meat is browned.

Egg topping

1. Put the cracked eggs, sugar, and salt in a bowl and beat them.
2. Cook them in a small pot. Please make sure that you keep mixing it really hard to make sure they become small crumbles. (Tip: use chop-sticks to help you to make the crumbles).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Maw8Pxxyn4

Scramble the eggs Japanese style, with chopsticks!

Serving

1. Put some rice in a bowl and flatten the top.
2. Put the meat and eggs on top of rice
3. If you like, put some flakes of seaweed (tear them into pieces) on the top

AND, Nishoku-gohan is ready!

Did you like this recipe? Leave a comment and let others know how it turned out.

Note: Some people call this dish Soboro Gohan (meaning “crumbles and  rice”). If you feel anxious that we are using a different (be equally popular) way of naming this dish you are at the wrong blog This is simple Japanese food, that tastes great with no room for pretentiousness.

May Japan Blog Matsuri, hosted by http://nihongoup.com

Nishoku Gohan (rice) Recipe- Donburi Menu Part 1 is a post from: Todd's Wanderings