Yaki Gyoza

Ingredients

• 300g minced pork, about 20 percent fat
• 250g white cabbage
• 1 tsp fine salt, for the cabbage
• 60g garlic chives (nira) or spring onions
• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• 1 tbsp finely grated ginger
• 1.5 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sake
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp potato starch
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 35 round gyoza wrappers
• 3 tbsp neutral oil
• 150ml water, plus 1 tsp plain flour for the crispy skirt
• 3 tbsp rice vinegar, to serve
• 2 tbsp soy sauce, to serve
• 1 tsp chilli oil, to serve

Before you cook

• Chop the cabbage as finely as you can manage, then toss it with the teaspoon of salt and leave it in a colander for 15 minutes.
• Gather the cabbage into a clean tea towel and wring it hard over the sink until almost no more water comes out.
• Chop the garlic chives into small pieces.
• Grate the garlic and ginger.
• Put the pork in a bowl with the soy sauce, sake, sesame oil, sugar, potato starch, white pepper, garlic and ginger.
• Stir the mince in one direction for a full minute until it turns sticky and pale, which is what stops the filling crumbling.
• Fold in the squeezed cabbage and the chives, then chill the filling for 15 minutes.
• Whisk the teaspoon of flour into the 150ml of water and set it aside.
• Stir the rice vinegar, soy sauce and chilli oil together for the dipping sauce.

Steps

1. Lay a wrapper on your palm and put a heaped teaspoon of filling in the centre.
2. Wet the top half of the wrapper's rim with a fingertip dipped in water.
3. Fold the wrapper over into a half moon and pinch it closed at the centre point only.
4. Make three small pleats in the front layer working from the centre out to the right, pressing each one against the flat back layer to seal it.
5. Make three more pleats from the centre out to the left, then press the whole seam firmly.
6. Stand the finished gyoza on a floured tray and press it down gently so the base sits flat and the dumpling curves.
7. Shape the rest of the gyoza the same way, keeping the tray covered with a tea towel so the wrappers do not dry out.
8. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a 26cm non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat.
9. Arrange twelve gyoza in the pan in a tight circle or two neat rows, flat sides down.
10. Fry them undisturbed for 2 minutes, until the bases are deep golden.
11. Pour in a third of the flour water, standing back because it will spit, and clamp on a lid immediately.
12. Steam for 6 minutes, until the water has almost gone and the wrappers look translucent.
13. Take off the lid and let the last of the liquid cook away for 2 minutes, so the starch left behind sets into a thin crisp sheet.
14. Drizzle a teaspoon of oil around the edge of the pan and fry for a final minute until the bases release cleanly.
15. Cover the pan with a large plate and invert the whole thing so the gyoza land crisp side up in one connected round.
16. Cook the remaining two batches the same way, and serve with the vinegar and soy dipping sauce.