During my visit in Tokyo, I can say that we are lucky that there are a couple of Japanese restaurants sprouting in Cebu serving authentic Japanese Cuisine. For one, I particularly love the gyoza at Kamekichi and I'm happy to learn the techniques how to make them from their very own chef.
Ingredients (Serving 24 pcs)
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| use this type of ginger grater |
150g ground pork
100g minced cabbage (quarter of a large cabbage)
80g minced pechay (two large leaf)
2 stalks minced spring onion (use ganda leaves if available for stronger aroma)
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp minced white onion
2 pinch of salt (1/2 tsp)
1 tbsp white sugar (brown will do)
1 tbsp chicken powder
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 1/2 tbsp shoyu (Kikoman Soy Sauce)
1 1/2 tbsp sake (Japanese wine or chinese wine or white wine)
water for pleating the wrapper
1/4 cup hot water
sesame oil
Dipping sauce: shoyu, rice vinegar, chili oil or sesame oil.
Prepare the meat:
1. In a bowl, hard massage (in kneading motion, gather and throw em back repeatedly) ground pork for about 10 minutes until some fats (white ones) are sticking on the sides of the bowl.
Tip: This is the secret to tenderize the meat.
Prepare the vegetable mixture:
2. Mince cabbage, spring onion and pechay. Set aside in a separate bowl.
3. Add garlic, ginger, onion into the vegetable mixture. Mix them lightly with your bare fingers.
4. Add shoyu, sake, salt, sugar, sesame oil, chicken powder into the vegetable mixture and mix lightly with your bare fingers.
Prepare the meat - vegetable mixture:
5. Add the meat into the vegetable mixture, knead them with your hands until the mixture thickens. When kneading, the meat absorbs the moisture.
6. Settle the mixture flat in the bowl with your fingers, tilt the bowl from side to side. If the mixture does not slide, it's the right consistency; not too wet, not too dry.
Prepare the wrap:
You need not get yourself into trouble by making them from scratch, head to a Japanese grocery. I grabbed a pack of wheat cake wrapper for gyoza at Machiya Mart for P110 for 24 pcs.
7. Thaw frozen wrapper.
Tip: Remove from plastic, cover the wrapper with wet towel to keep it moist. Leaving it inside the plastic will cause some wrapper to be wet and hard to handle. Put inside the ref to thaw.
Tip: The wrapper and wrapped gyoza must be covered with moist towel at all times while working to keep it moist and prevent it from breaking.
8. Take one wrapper on your palm and with one finger, wet the outer sides of the wrapper.
9. Put 1 tsp of the mixture in the middle of the wrapper.
10. Fold in into half over the filling and pinch the middle.
11. Holding the wrapper in that middle spot that you just pinched with your left hand, make a pleat on the top part of the wrapper, pinching it against the flat edge of the wrapper at the back using your right fingers.
(Tip: I find it easier when I let it stand on the plate/table while holding the middle to keep the filling from slipping while pleating.)
12. Holding the filled half-circle in the left hand, pleat the top of the wrapper from the middle out, pressing it to the flat edge of the wrapper at the back (only the front edge will be pleated, the back edge stays flat). Proceed to make two or three more pleats to the right of the first pleat.
13. Then switch sides and pleat the other side (to the left of the pinched middle) with your left fingers.
Note: Store them in the freezer when not yet ready for consumption. When ready to eat, place frozen gyoza onto pan in the same manner below. It may just take a little longer for its wrapper to turn translucent because of the thawing process.
Pan Fry Gyoza:
14. With no fire, oil the pan with 1 tbsp of oil, spread it over the pan with paper napkin.
15. Line the gyoza on the pan with small distance as it expands when cooked.
16. Put 1/4cup of hot water into the pan. (make sure water is equally distributed on the pan covering the bottom of the gyoza)
17. Cover the pan.
18. Turn on the stove in high heat, for about 4 minutes, until the wrapper turns translucent. The steam will cook the gyoza. Add hot water if it dries up before it becomes translucent.
19. When it turns translucent (just in time when water has evaporated), open the pan, put little sesame oil over the pan to pan fry the gyoza. (This will make the bottom brown and crisp.) Keep the pan open.
Tip: On fire, avoid adding oil onto water, as this will cause it to splatter.
20. When it starts to smoke, lower the heat.
21. Remove from heat and serve on the plate up side down.
22. Consume while hot with dipping sauce.
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Kamekichi Ramen
F. Cabahug Street, Cebu City
(032) 4224511
Machiya Mart
TPE Building
Corner Gov. Cuenco Avenue (Talamban Road) and AS Fortuna Street, Cebu City
(032-5056592) or (032) 344-0355
