Thursday, May 03, 2007

Gyozas from Wagamama

gyozas

I finally broke in my Wagamama cookbook, and made gyozas, and yaki-soba over the weekend. (More on that another day.) The gyozas are filled with chicken, cabbage and water chestnuts, and served with chilli-garlic dipping sauce. It was my first time making these, and let's just say it wasn't fun, nor easy. I was really not in the mood, and I was ready to throw out the entire lot of irritatingly ragged and torn little dumplings, but I decided to give it a go and steam them and.. well, what do you know? They taste great!

No recipe though. I'll probably experiment a bit with fillings, this was a bit too mild. And I think I'd like some ginger in the sauce. But I'll be back on this subject, promise!

And for now, check out this recipe for "Pelmeenid" - sort of gyozas, but from Estonia. (Or from Russia, possibly.)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,my name is Evelyn and i'm from Malaysia but studying in Ukraine...just wanted to let u know that pelmeenid is a Russian or Ukrainian dish.

Anna said...

It just take some practice! I love gyoza, it might actually be my favourite food.

Så här gör jag:

quornförs brynes med salladslök eller charlottenlök eller nån mild lök, ingefära, någon form av citrus - citrongräs/lime/citron eller så, en aning färsk koriander, japansk soya, färsk chili. När det har svalnat brukar jag även blanda ner nåt ägg för att hålla ihop det lite mer.

Sen steker jag knytena innan jag ångar dem (alltså steker och häller sen på vatten ner i pannan) och serverar med sås på hälften japanska soja, hälften risvinäger och sambal oelek efter smak.

thepassionatecook said...

oh! i love gyoza.. at wagamama's, ebi gyoza (with prawns, wayer chestnuts & lemongrass) are my favourite. did you like the book? i've been tempted to buy it forever..

Anne said...

Evelyn - thanks! I'm sure it's one of those things that exist in several countries, I've learned it from my dad who is from Estonia. My grandfather might have picked up this particular kind from Russia though - he worked there for many years.

Anna - ooh, thank you! Just hänga ihop gjorde min fyllning *inte*, så ett ägg låter bra. Jag stekte också i lite olja innan jag hällde på vatten, det blev bra med krispig botten.

Thepassionatecook - I really do like it! I might have to get their second one, too.. However, my yaki soba looked nothing like what they did in the restaurant, and it wasn't super tasty either. My fault, or the recipe - might be a combination. : ) Totally getting the ebi gyozas next time - ah, just a bit over a month before I get to go to Wagamama! :)

jane said...

Hi Anne! Those look great. I too adore gyoza. The duck ones are great - if you order them steamed, not fried. They come with this delicious sour cherry dipping sauce.

Where did you buy your wrappers from? Do you have to go to a specialist supermarket?

thanks! Jane

Anne said...

Jen - ooh, duck sounds really tasty! These were sort of steamed and fried - first fried in a little bit of oil, I then added water and a lid, and steamed until done. (Just a few minutes.) I don't have an actual steamer though.

And I found the wrapper in a specialty store, yes - a really good asian market in the city. I haven't seen them anywhere else, but I haven't been looking very hard. :)

Anonymous said...

Assume Japanese gyoza are based on Chinese Jiaozi? I found a recipe in a Sunday magazine a few years back. Makes 100 dumplings so its pretty time consuming. Amazingly good though; my freezer has a constant supply! Recipe on my blog under "chinese dumplings".

Anonymous said...

Wendy, Jiazoi and Gyouza are just different pronounciations of the Chinese characters "餃子" - Japanese and Chinese respectively, although there can be some small differences. But nothing beats Cantonese wonton dumplings when it comes to taste... yummy

Pille said...

I've been wanting to make something like these again (I made potstickers once when in Scotland), but I cannot find wrappers here:(
And yes, pelmeenid are originally from Russia, but they're well established here in Estonia, and I'm sure our recipe is distinct from the Russian one (if there is 'one' recipe in Russia anyway:)