What’s fun about Gyoza is that you can be creative with its filling. Instead of regular green cabbage, try making these pan-fried dumplings with napa cabbage!
I hope everyone had a great weekend. The weather has been improving but unfortunately, it’s going to rain for a few days this week. My daughter turned 3 years old yesterday and we celebrated her birthday. My son’s birthday is in May so we’ll have a joint birthday party in a few weeks for the two of them. It’s so hard to believe my youngest baby is already 3 years old. They’re growing up so fast, almost too fast. I am really enjoying spending time with them but I know I will miss them so much when they start spending more time at school.
Today’s recipe is Gyoza. So far I have introduced Chicken & Shiso Gyoza with Yuzu Kosho Ponzu Sauce and basic Gyoza recipes. What’s fun about Gyoza is that you can be creative with its filling. You can wrap any ingredients you like in the Gyoza skin and create your own invention. In Japan, we even wrap cheese in Gyoza skin and it’s very good. For the Gyoza recipe today, I added napa cabbage. Some families do use napa cabbage as an ingredient instead of cabbage. Once in awhile I change the seasonings and see if I can make even better gyoza. For this particular recipe, you don’t need to dip gyoza in any sauce because it has enough seasonings and taste. Oh, one more thing. If you have leftovers, just freeze them and have some as a snack or a quick meal. Happy Monday!
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What's fun about Gyoza is that you can be creative with its filling. Instead of regular green cabbage, try making these pan-fried dumplings with napa cabbage!
- 1 lb napa cabbage (8 large leaves)
- ½ tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger (1 Tbsp minced ginger)
- 2 green onions/scallions
- 1 lb ground pork
- 54 Gyoza wrappers
- 2 Tbsp potato starch/cornstarch (optional)
- 2 Tbsp neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, canola, etc) (for each batch of frying Gyoza)
- ¼ cup water (for each batch of frying Gyoza)
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil (roasted) (for each batch of frying Gyoza)
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp sesame oil (roasted)
- 1 Tbsp sake
- 1 tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
- 1 tsp sugar
- freshly ground black pepper
- Finely chop the napa cabbage and put it in a medium bowl. Sprinkle salt and rub the napa cabbage with hands. Set aside for 10 minutes.
-
Gather all the ingredients to make the gyoza filling.
- Mince garlic, ginger, and green onions and put them in a large bowl. Add the meat and Seasonings.
- Knead the mixture with hands until it gets sticky.
- Squeeze water out of the napa cabbage with hands.
- Add the napa cabbage in the large bowl. Mix all together with hands again.
- Wrap the filling with gyoza wrappers (See How To Wrap Gyoza). If you don’t cook the gyoza right away, I recommend freezing because moisture from the filling may break the wrapping. To freeze, place the gyoza on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, keeping some distance to each other, and flash-freeze until hard (so now gyoza won't stick to each other). Then transfer to a freezer bag to store.
- In a large non-stick frying pan, heat oil on medium high heat. When the pan is hot, arrange gyoza in a circular shape. If you place gyoza tightly together, the individual pieces won’t fall off when you flip them onto a serving plate.
- When gyoza is browned, pour water and immediately put the lid on. Turn the heat to high and steam gyoza till most of water evaporates. Be careful not to overcook gyoza because it will burn easily.
- When most of the water is evaporated, remove the lid to let any remaining water evaporate. Add sesame oil around the edge of the inner pan and cook uncovered until gyoza gets nice and crisp on the bottom.
- Place a serving plate on top of the pan and quickly flip. Serve immediately.
- If you have any leftover filling, you can make meat balls with it and fry them.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
My Japanese mamas taught me how to make gyoza. It is one of my favorite foods. One variation I often use that hubby loves is adding a can of bacon Spam, mincing it and mixing it with the ground pork. It is so delicious! I use regular cabbage shredded, carrots and green onions. If you don’t have cooking sake, drinking sake is fine. BTW, I don’t pleat my gyoza, I just seal them and cook. Easy.
I never used spam in my cooking but heard great things about it! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Nami,
How do you keep the gyoza from sticking to each other? Everytime I try cooking using your circle method, they end up sticking to each other and I can’t get them apart. I end up ripping them.
Hi Rose!
So you have two choices. 1) Give some space in between when you line up gyoza in circle – but when you flip, most likely you have to fix up the shape as all the gyoza are too loose when you flip to the plate. 2) Use non-circle method and fry separately. Hope that helps! 🙂
Hello Nami !
I’ve been cooking gyoza/jiaozi for one year now, with always the same recipe. Today, I see yours and think “Well, why not change this time?”
So I made gyoza following your recipe, only using chicken instead of pork and cooked in a bamboo steamer. And it was DELICIOUS! Same ingredients but different measures and it’s not the same dish. My parents and siblings were unanimous “Keep this recipe, forget the other!”.
Well, all is said right? 🙂 Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe.
Hi Cassandre! Thank you so much for trying this recipe, despite the recipe was shared on the site pretty long time ago, and the photo is not so great (my early camera skill!). I’m so happy to hear you and your family enjoyed this recipe. Your comment made my day! THANK YOU!
Hi Nami,
Do you clean your Napa cabbage in the salad spinner? Do you wash them before you shred them? I always make a huge mass while cleaning them… Also, what do you do with the leaves that have tiny black spots on them? Thank you!
Hi Lu! I apologize for my late response. I usually wash the napa cabbage leaves before I cut them. Then I cut and sprinkle salt, and squeeze the water out.
You can eat the black spotted napa cabbage. The black spot is polyphenol and the napa cabbage with it is actually sweeter and tastes very good! 🙂
This Recipe was great!! I made the gyoza wrappers by hand for the first time and with your recipe they turned out really well. The gyoza itself was fantastic. I did use cooking wine instead of sake and it turned out fine. I also used soy sauce, rice vinegar, and ginger for the sauce. Thank you so much for the great recipe. I’ll be visiting this website more often.
Hi Yelissa! I’m happy to hear you liked the recipe! Wow, I’m glad to hear your gyoza wrappers came out well too. I hope you find some recipes you like on my site. 🙂 Thank you very much for your kind feedback. 🙂 xo
Hello !
Can I just make Tane today and keep them in fridge over night and make actual gyoza next day ?
or is that bad idea? Thanks so much!!!
Hi L! I am sorry for my late response. I wish I could write you sooner. I’m not sure what you did, but for gyoza or dumpling, the filling release some water and that makes the wrapping wet, and it may break. Therefore, if you don’t use it right away, I recommend to freeze them, even you use it next day. Again, I truly apologize for my late response.