For many of my close friends, the first item ordered from the appetizer menu is gyoza, or dumplings.  These delicious morsels of filling wrapped in a thin dough are one of my favorite items to make for a family dinner.  Ever wondered how to make authentic Asian dumplings in your own kitchen? Look no further, because we have a fantastic recipe to share with AU students.  Not only is it fun to make, it also creates an excellent bonding opportunity among friends and family.  As a child, I recall the numerous times our family would gather multiple generations together to speed up preparation.  It not only united multiple generations together but also created a tradition that would be passed on for many decades to come.  The ingredients are simple, and the cooking process is even simpler.  If you’re into trying new recipes, this would be a fantastic Asian cuisine to try at home.

There are two key steps to making an outstanding Asian dumpling.  First, creating the perfect texture of dough and then blending the right ingredients for the perfect filling.  Personally, I find that using pre-minced meat for filling to be perfect as it significantly cuts down the amount of work required.

Tools:

• Rolling pin
• Meat blender or hand-held blender if you’re using pre-minced meats like beef or chicken

Dough Ingredients:

• 500 grams of all purpose flour
• 250 mL of room temperature water

Filling Ingredients: (makes 4 cups)

• There are various fillings possible, so it’s okay to be creative! I recall my fillings have ranged from pork and chives to vegetarian
• Pick your favorite protein and use 3.5 cups of the amount
• Half a cup of your favorite veggie
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp garlic

Filling preparation steps:

1. Use 3.5 cups of your favorite protein blended with a meat blender (ideal to use pre-minced protein)
2. Add 0.5 cups of your favorite grated or thinly sliced vegetables. My favorite vegetables to use in dumplings include chives and cabbage.
3. Mix the protein and vegetable evenly
4. Add 1 tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tsp of sugar and 1 tsp of minced garlic
5. Add salt, pepper to taste
6. Mix all ingredients evenly
7. Set filling aside to marinade for 30 minutes

Dough Preparation steps:

1. Use a large bowl to prepare the dough. Add 500 g of flour and mix with water slowly
2. Mix the water and flour evenly and begin kneading firmly
3. When the dough feels firm, add a pinch of flour to ensure a non-stick surface
4. Transfer the dough to a flat surface and allow it to sit for 2 hours
5. After resting the dough, the texture should be soft

Making the dumplings:

1. Slice ⅕ of the dough off and place the rest back into the big bowl
2. Roll the dough into a stick like shape and ensure even thickness of the stick
3. Cut the stick of dough into 10 smaller dough bits
4. Dust off the sides of the small dough bits and press using a rolling pin into a round disc of dough
5. Continue to roll the disc of dough until a flat 2 mm thin pancake shape is achieved
6. Add 1 tsp of filling to the dough and fold the thin pancake-sized dough into a half moon shape
7. Seal the ends of the half moon shape with a small amount of water (similar to adding a drop of water to seal an envelope)
8. Set finished dumpling aside and repeat steps 5 through 7 until all dough has been used up

Cooking the dumpling

1. In a boiling pot of water, add all dumplings at once
2. Allow dumplings to simmer at medium heat for 10 minutes
3. After 10 minutes, scoop dumplings out from water

Serve!