Dumplings.
Delicious pockets of yumminess, that almost everyone has their own variation of! The Italians have ravioli, central and eastern Europe have pierogi, The Germans have potato dumplings called kartoffelknoedel, Chicken and dumplings which are popular down south in America and of course the various kinds of Asian dumplings such as won-tons, xia-long-bao and the ones I dined on for lunch, (Chinese) gyoza!
Gyoza come filled with lots and lots of varieties of fillings, but one
of my all time favourites are the ones that have savory pork and leeks
in the middle. I grew up eating this kind, so these little steamed, then pan
fried, partially tender and crispy on the underside dumplings will
always hold a special place in my food loving heart.
If you are not familiar with how these are cooked, read the instructions.Haha, I don't mean it that way. Or do I.
While it's always in our favour to read the instructions printed by the manufacturers, it really is quite simple and it only takes a handful of steps.
- Use a non-stick pan, add about a tablespoon of oil to it, heat on medium-high
- Fill your pan up with gyoza and allow to brown slightly
- Pour in cold water, so it covers 3/4ths of the dumplings
- Cover and let cook until most of the liquid has evaporated
- Remove the cover allowing the rest of the water to evaporate
- Continue cooking on medium-high until they're crispy and brown on the bottom
- Remove from pan and devour with your favourite dipping sauce
The steaming process ensures that whatever goodies that are in the middle are cooked through.
While there are an array of sauces to dip gyozas in, I'll share with you my favourites.
- Soy sauce + sesame oil + sugar + chilies in oil + minced raw garlic + scallions (shown)
- Mayonnaise (Hellman's) + sriracha
- Peanut butter + soy sauce + sesame oil + chilies in oil + granulated garlic + water to thin
These make the best-est-ist lunch or breakfast or dinner or snack time meal, ever! I could eat dumplings, these dumplings (which are frozen and come from a packages already pre-made) every single day. Anyone want to dare me?