I recently put my blog on Facebook and have been overwhelmed with the positive response from all my Facebook friends who have read and shared my blog and those who have contacted me personally as well. I realised when I shared I did not explain very well about what I am actually doing. So, a quarter of the way through this project I thought it would be a good time for a reminder!
Essentially I am cooking my way through this, now very dog eared looking, copy of Nigel Slater's, A Year of Good Eating, The Kitchen Diaries Volume III:
One of my closest and dearest friends bought me a signed copy for Christmas and in the year I gave up full time work as a lawyer, I am cooking my way through every recipe in this book and blogging about it. Cooking has always been a passion of mine and I am loving every moment of the opportunity to indulge in this hobby. Link to the book here:
Anyways, enough about me and on to business. So, like Nigel, on March 23 I cooked Nigel's Gyoza with Pork and Lemongrass with an accompanying dip. The recipes are on pages 94 - 96 and there is a picture:
I was excited and scared about this one. Excited as I love Gyoza, scared because it looks like some sort of origami!
The Gyoza wrappers came from the Japanese Centre which I have previously used to source some of the ingredients. Everything else in this recipe you can get from the supermarket.
You start by cooking the filling for the gyoza, with the main ingredients being minced pork and spinach. I *think* I may have spotted an error in this recipe. Nigel talks of wilting the spinach at the beginning and then putting in a mixing bowl and then does not mention it again. I think it is meant to be added to the pork mixture like this:
Next comes the bit I was dreading. Actually making the Gyoza. It was easier than I thought but much more time consuming than I could have imagined so had to draft my husband in. We actually ended up making nearly 30 Gyoza rather than the 20 Nigel advises. I am not sure if were under filled but I was more concerned about over filling and it bursting out. Here are some action shots of our evening of Gyoza Origami, it was actually a lovely way to spend time together, who would have thought it!:
They are a thing of beauty when made. Like little sea shells. Now to cook them! You basically shallow pan fry then, then add a little water to allow them to steam. What you are aiming for is crisp bottoms and soft tops. No soggy bottoms here please! I think the best pan to do this in would be a frying pan with a lid but I don't have one so, once again I use my trusty pan:
Another challenge, was how to serve these as a midweek dinner for two. So, I made a really quick stir fry of some vegetables I had in the fridge.
The dipping sauce was classic Nigel. Bung it all in a pan and voila!:
So, bringing together the above trio, we have dinner:
It was fantastic. The Gyoza were delicious, fantastically tasty, fresh, with crisp bottoms and soft tops. The dipping sauce really complimented the Gyoza. It made a great little midweek supper, even though Gyoza is traditionally an appetiser.
With my left over Gyoza, I froze them before I cooked the whole Gyoza. I then throughly defrosted them and cooked them on Easter Sunday as an appetiser. In the end we all get to fulfil our destiny....
JanieCooksNigel
6/4/16
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