NEVER ENOUGH GARLIC

It cannot be overstated how much we love gyoza (dumplings). The only issue with this is that we cannot get them vegan anywhere around where we live. So what do a couple of gyoza lovers do? They make their own vegan gyoza!

Okay, this might not be the great epiphany we made it out to sound, but the idea actually first struck us yesterday when we stumbled across some delicious looking gyoza in an ad and were then devasted to find out they weren't plant based in any way. So the moment we got home from work, we headed into the "lab" (aka. our kitchen). 

This was the end result. Perfect, colourful little parcels of gyoza, and (not to toot our own horn) the most glorious gyoza we have ever tried! No more will we have to stare wistfully at menus with gyoza we couldn't order. No more will we be mocked by commercials taunting us. No more will those savoury morsels evade our lips. No more! Anyway... 

By now, you might be wondering what on earth is gyoza?

Without delving too much into definitions that we'll surely get wrong and annoy people with, we'll keep it simple. Gyoza is a type of Japanese dumpling. It's usually a flour-based wrapper (or skin) stuffed with a mixture of vegetables, meat, and spices, and it can either be pan-fried, boiled, or deep-fried (and there's probably a bunch of other methods we've never heard of).

Ingredients (makes approx. 82 gyoza):

• 50 g (1.8 oz) dried shiitake mushrooms
• 125 g (4.4 oz) smoked tofu 
• 1 bunch of spring onions
• 1 large onion
• 7 cloves of garlic
• 1 thumb of ginger (about 2.5/3 tbsp. when grated)
• 2 tbsp. sesame seeds
  
• 3 tbsp. soy sauce (or gluten free soy sauce)
• 1 tbsp. tamari sauce (or gluten free tamari)
• 1 tbsp. Asian vegetable fond (sub with regular vegetable fond if you can't find this)
• 1 tbsp. chilli oil
• 1 tsp. peanut butter
• Olive oil for cooking
• Water
• 82 gyoza wrappers (or make your own veggie flavoured wrappers). If you don't eat gluten, use either store-bought gluten free wrappers, or make your own gluten free ones with our recipe. 

For dipping:

• Soy sauce (sub with gluten free soy) 
• Chilli oil
• Chilli flakes

Instructions:

Part 1

1. Soak the shiitake mushrooms according to the instructions on the packet. Chop in small pieces once soaked.
2. Finely chop the onion. Crush the garlic, and grate the ginger (or toss the garlic and ginger in a food processor and pulse like we did). 
3. Heat up a little olive oil in a large frying pan/wok, and stir-fry the chopped shiitake mushrooms until fragrant. 
4. Add the onions and stir-fry until golden.
5. Crumble in the smoked tofu, and stir-fry a few more minutes. Then add the garlic and ginger and incorporate into the mixture.
6. Meanwhile, chop the spring onions and toss them in. 
7. Add the soy sauce, tamari, fond, chilli oil, sesame, and peanut butter, and mix well. 
8. Let the mixture simmer for a couple of minutes, then remove from heat and let cool completely.

Part 2

1. Place around 1 tsp. of the filling (adjust depending on the size of your wrappers) in the centre of each wrapper. 
2. Using your finger, brush the edges of the wrapper with water.
3. Holding the gyoza in you hand, lift the bottom half of the gyoza and fold it in pleats, sticking it to the top half as you go. You should be making a half-moon type shape. Make sure the edges are sealed so that the filling doesn't fall out when frying them. 
4. Place all the finished gyoza on an oven tray dusted with flour to prevent sticking while you heat up a little olive oil in large pan/skillet (that has a lid - we'll be using it later). 
5. Place as many gyoza as you can on you pan, and fry them for about 4 minutes or until golden brown and cripy on one side. 
6. Carefully pour enough water into the pan to just cover about half the bottom, and close with the lid. Steam like this for 7 minutes. 
7. Meanwhile, mix the ingredients for the dipping sauce.
8. Remove the lid and fry the gyoza for an additional minute or two until the wrappers start to look slightly see-through. 
9. Serve immediately with dipping sauce and enjoy!

Tip: If you have leftover filling, it makes for a great noodle recipe. Just boil some rice noodles and mix with the filling!