Gyoza(餃子) is the Japanese version of the Chinese dumpling Jiaozi(饺子). Better known as “potstickers” in the US, they’re delightful little dumplings made with garlicky meat and vegetables, wrapped in a thin noodle-like wrapper with pleated edges. I created this meatless version for a vegan client, but they turned out so well, I may never use pork in my gyoza again!
That’s because these Japanese potstickers are perfectly suited to going meatless, thanks to a filling that is brimming with the pungent flavors of garlic, ginger, and sesame oil. Add in some umami enhancers like powdered shiitake mushroom and soy sauce, and these dumplings couldn’t possibly be accused of being bland, even by the most ardent carnivore. In this dish, the challenge wasn’t in the flavor department, but in the texture. For this, I enlisted the help of my recent go to for vegetarian ground meat, paired with some quinoa.
By freezing the tofu and defrosting it, it takes on a crumbly spongy texture that’s close to ground meat. While it lacks the firmness of cooked ground meat, the quinoa fills in with its toothsome texture. The quinoa not only lends a meaty firmness, it adds a ton of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, and if you use red quinoa it even has the color of meat.
I know a lot of people are intimidated by the thought of folding these dumplings, but it’s not hard, and after you’ve done a few dozen, you’ll get pretty fast. In case you’re wondering if you can skip the pleating and just fold them in half, the pleats actually serve a purpose beyond their decorative value. When you cook the gyoza, they need to sit in the pan with the folded edge facing up. If you merely fold the dumpling in half, they won’t have a flat side. By pleating the seam, you create a convex side and concave side, with a crescent shaped flat surface on the bottom. This allows the gyoza to sit neatly in the pan without falling over.
Steaming the gyoza results in an al dente noodle-like wrapper, while deep-frying creates a crisp wrapper. But why settle for one when you can have both by steaming AND frying. The process is simple, just start off frying them until they take on a bit of color, add some water and steam then till the top is done, then let the remaining water evaporate until the bottoms crisp up golden brown. With a crisp base and tender top, you get the best of both worlds in every bite.
Units
Ingredients
- 400 grams firm tofu (frozen, thawed, washed)
- ½ cup quinoa
- 200 grams cabbage
- 4 scallions (minced)
- 7 grams garlic (grated)
- 2.5 centimeters fresh ginger (about 1 tablespoon)
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sake
- 1 tablespoon potato starch
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 2 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 40 gyoza wrappers (a.k.a. potsticker wrappers)
- vegetable oil (for frying)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- chili oil (optional)
Instructions
- Freeze the tofu overnight. Defrost, thoroughly wash and squeeze as much water out of the tofu as you can. See my post on “vegetarian ground meat” for more detailed instructions.
- Wash the quinoa and cook it in 1 cup of water. Add it to the bowl with the tofu when cooked.
- Boil the cabbage until it’s not crisp anymore, but not until it’s fully soft (about 1-2 minutes). Drain it and run under cold water so it’s cool enough to handle. Shake out of the excess water but do not squeeze. Mince the cabbage and add it to the bowl with the tofu and quinoa.
- Add the scallions, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, sake, potato starch, salt and white pepper to the bowl. Use a Microplane to grate the dried shiitake into a powder and add it to the bowl.
- Put on a food-safe glove and mix the filling with your hand, using a kneading action to coax the crumbly mixture to come together. It will never stick together like a meat-based filling, but it should hold its shape when scooped together with a spoon.
- If you’re right handed, place 1 wrapper in the palm of your left hand, then place a spoonful of filling into the center of the wrapper.
- Dip the fingers of your right hand in a bowl of water, and wet the entire rim of the wrapper. This is what seals the pleats into place.
- Continue holding the dumpling in your left hand and fold the wrapper in half but don’t seal the edges yet.
- Pinch the left edge shut and hold it shut with your left thumb and forefinger.
- Fold a pleat with your right thumb and forefinger.
- Pinch the pleat shut with your left thumb and forefinger. While using the fingers on your right hand to keep the filling from squeezing out.
- Continue pleating and pinching until you’ve reached the right edge. Repeat until you run out of filling or wrappers. If you’re not going to fry them right away, put the dumplings on parchment paper and leave some space between each one to keep them from sticking. You can freeze them like this and transfer them to a freezer bag after they’re frozen.
- Add 2 tablespoons of oil to non-stick frying pan and heat over medium-high heat. Add the gyoza in rows.
- Fry until the gyoza are just starting to turn tan on the bottom. With a lid at the ready, add 1/4 cup of water to the pan and immediately cover with a lid. The oil is going to spatter quite a bit so be careful and use the lid as a shield to protect yourself.
- Let the gyoza steam for 2 minutes. If the water runs out before the 2 minutes are up, crack open the lid and add a little bit more.
- After steaming, remove the lid and let the remaining water burn off. Let the gyoza fry in the remaining oil until the bottoms are golden brown and crispy. Plate with the crispy side up so they don’t get soggy.
- To make the sauce for the gyoza, combine equal parts soy sauce and rice vinegar and add chili oil to taste.
Jeanne Mizuno Kays says
Great! I’ll try them! My gyoza with the egg replacer tasted great, but the potato starch in your vegan recipe should work much better. Thanks!
Kelley says
Great recipe! I used homemade dashi to cook the quinoa, and it was very flavorful!!
Bonneville says
Lovely recipe! A point to note, I was interrupted whilst making these and cooked the 2nd batch many hours after the first. Must say, 2nd batch was much better, I guess the time allowed the flavours to infuse. Luckily, I ran out of wrappers and still have half the filling in the fridge, I’ll make more tomorrow which I’m guessing will be even more flavourful! Thank you
sdsds says
made this and it was really yum! will do it again! highly recommended
Maria says
I can’t believe how tasty these are!! Absolutely awesome recipe.
PickAName says
This looks great. Exactly how much tofu is used? Packages vary in size.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi PickAName, good point. I used a 14 ounce pack, which is the standard size in the US, but is perhaps not accurate for other countries.
Ashley Amanda Dawn Senesac says
I made these today! I didn’t have access to quinoa, so I omitted it. They were amazing!
Greenclouds says
Hey Marc,
Thanks for the recipe! I tried it today, unfortunately it tasted a bit sour? Perhaps from tofu, how can I balance
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Greenclouds, that’s very strange. Unless the tofu was spoiled it should be slightly alkaline (opposite of acidic) so this should not taste sour until you dip it in vinegar. If your tofu was sour, try a different brand.
Julia Vu says
Hi, I made these last night and they were amazing! Except the dip tastes much better with equal parts soy sauce, rice vinegar, water, sesame oil, and a bit of sugar. Also, the filling didn’t make 40 pot stickers…. It made 70! Fine by me hehe. I ended up mixing it in a food processor because I’m lazy 🙂 The result is delicious, savoury pot stickers that even non-vegans love!!!! Thank you so much!!
Julia Vu says
Also, this took me around 5 hours to make lol. Lots of labour and time but definitely worth it for a scrumptious dish
Greta Suchy says
Hey Marc, I really loved your recipe for vegetarian gyoza (without tofu) you had, but when I went to make it today, I couldn’t find it. Is there someway to access that? Thank you, I very much enjoy using your recipes!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Julia, there’s two possibilities as to why you got so many potstickers. The first is that potsticker wrappers come in a number of sizes. I used fairly large wrappers. The other is the amount of filling you add to the wrapper (which also depends on the size of the wrapper). I think these had about 2 tablespoons of filling per potsticker. As for the time, 5 hours seems like an awfully long time. Are you including the time to freeze the tofu?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Greta, the old recipe just used quinoa. If you want to make that just replace the tofu with an equal volume of quinoa. Personally I like the texture of having both the tofu in quinoa which is why I changed the recipe.