Gyoza. Dumplings. Pot Stickers. What ever you want to call them I am obsessed. For years I relied on gyoza, broccoli and rice as my go to quick weeknight dinner. Filling, healthy and easy. Well, easy when you have an amazing Japanese grocery store down the street that sells frozen gyoza for cheap. Not so easy when said grocery store closes and the American supermarket variety just don’t stack up. So whats a girl to do but learn to make her own, from scratch, by the dozen and freeze them?

After having made homemade ravioli this didn’t seem very intimidating to me as the concept is pretty similar.

For the wrappers, you can find them in most supermarkets in the produce section (by the refrigerated salad dressings) but I made my own from La Fuji Mama’s recipe. I was having a hell of a time rolling out the little circles so I actually ended up rolling out (with my pasta machine) a thin sheet of the gyoza dough and then cutting out circles with a biscuit /cookie cutter, as she suggested. A little nontraditional but it worked really well for me! Fuji Mama has great step by step photos that I can’t reproduce so check out her site for the recipe!

Now for the filling, I used this recipe found on the Darling Baker’s website. I omitted the water chestnuts though as I wasn’t particularly interested in them. Delicious.

Shrimp Filling for Gyoza
1/2 lb raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and coarsely chopped
1/2 lb ground pork
3 stalks green onions, minced
1/4 cup ginger root, minced
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp corn starch

Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use (up to a day, but preferably within an hour or two).

Once you have made your gyoza with the filling of your choice you can pan fry or steam them. I prefer the pan fried method of course…

Place dumplings in a frying pan with 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Heat on high and fry for a few minutes until bottoms are golden. Add 1/2 cup water and cover. Cook until the water has boiled away and then uncover and reduce heat to medium or medium low. Let the dumplings cook for another 2 minutes then remove from heat and serve.

To freeze: Assemble dumplings on a baking sheet so they are not touching. It helps to rub the base of the dumpling in a little flour before setting on the baking sheet for ease of release. Freeze for 20-30 minutes until dumplings are no longer soft. Place in ziploc bag and freeze for up to a couple of months. Prepare per the above instructions, but allow extra time to ensure the filling is thoroughly cooked.

I love the gyoza dipping sauce from Whole Foods but any will work (or make your own)!