Month: February 2022

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Gyoza, two fillings, pork and prawn.

Gyoza are a treat. I serve them with three dips: soy sauce, sweet chilli dipping sauce, and chilli relish. Cook them in batches of 6 and eat them straight away before cooking more. They are supposed to be a side/starter, but when I make them they become the whole meal.

I’ve got 2 fillings I use, one pork, one shellfish. For the shellfish you can use prawns, lobster, scallops, and for the pork you can substitute razor clams (spoots), or veal if you fancy.

Pork filling

150g pork fillet chopped

60g water chestnuts chopped

small sprig of chopped chives (or a spring onion)

1 small chilli chopped

4 or 5 shredded baby cabbage leaves

salt and pepper

Prawn filling

150g prawns, chopped

60g water chestnuts chopped

small sprig of chopped chives (or a spring onion)

a small handful of chopped spinach

salt and pepper

Method for prepping the filling

  1. Mix the ingredients in a blender and blitz to a grainy mix – not a paste, but not chunky.
  2. Dry fry for a couple of minutes to cook everything and drive off any excess water.
  3. Put to one side in a bowl

Making up the Gyoza

  1. Lay out your Gyoza skin, on one half place a good sized teaspoon of the filling.
  2. Fold over the skin and then fold over and press the edges. Trim the skin if you need to before you fold and press. You shouldn’t need any liquid or oil – the skin should just stick. But use a little if you feel the need.
  3. You can make them pretty with the way you fold, or not. Just make sure it’s stuck…

Cooking

  1. Steam the Gyoza for 3-4 minutes. If you don’t have a steamer then a colander over a pan of water works fine (but keep a lid on). This cooks the pastry. It is also possible to dunk the Gyoza in just simmering water for 60sec, but you risk losing them if they split.
  2. Transfer to a pan and shallow fry in veg oil, about 1min per side until golden. If you’ve done them beautifully then they will be vaguely triangular in cross section and you get to fry three sides. But if you’re like me it’s a bit hit and miss.
Gyoza – served on a napkin and ready to dip…
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Gyoza skins

Gyoza are Japanese dumplings. I first came across them in Waggamama, and it was a few years before I was brave enough to attempt them myself. They are 1/2 moon shaped dumplings that are steamed then fried, with sauce for dips, and they are utterly delicious.

Because I live in the middle of no-where my choices for the pastry are either to buy it online, or make it. Big supermarkets sell the gyoza skins and that makes the whole process a lot less fiddly. But, for me, the fiddle is part of the fun…

I use a recipe that includes oil in the pastry – some don’t, but it’s what I like. I also use the flour I keep in the house rather than authentic Japanese flour.

The finished, but uncooked gyoza

Ingredients (for 24 skins)

90g strong bread flour

90g plain flour

1/5tsp salt

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp veg oil

~100ml hot water

Method

  1. Mix the flours together and add the oil and salt, stirring with a fork
  2. Add about 2/3 of the water (just off the boil from the kettle) and quickly mix it in with the fork.
  3. Add more water if needed to just bring the dough together and no more (be slightly sparing if anything)
  4. Turn out onto a board and knead/roll to get a lovely smooth, silky and elastic dough.
  5. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 20min.
  6. take to cooled dough and roll it into a sausage. Cut the sausage in half, then half again making 4 nice round mini-sausage. Each of these is cut into 3 and rolled out on a lightly (plain) floured board into circles about 10cm diameter.

The hot water makes the dough really silky and elastic – and is essential because you will be rolling these out really thin (translucent thin). When they are rolled you can stack them with either a little flour in-between or using baking paper (I use flour). Use them that day.

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Haggis Neeps and Tatties

Traditional for Burns night, but good anytime…

There are two simple ways of doing this dish, as three things on a plate, or as a pie, in layers. Personal choice I tend to make the pie. But whatever you do the ratio is king – 1/3 of each, and every forkful carrying a little of each – it’s the combination that makes this dish.

You can make your own haggis (I have), however, it’s not so easy to get a ‘pluck’ (the offal including the lungs) and when you make a batch if you get it wrong then there’s a lot of it gone wrong. If you want to try making it there are good recipes online. I’d recommend using pin-meal oats, and make a small one to get the technique and flavour right, making sure you keep a good record of your ratios and cooking. Them make up the rest – you’ll need to do it all on one day because the pluck doesn’t keep well. You have been warned.

Easier to buy the haggis and grow the veg…

Ingredients

I buy MacSween Haggis, for me there is no substitute. You used to get it in sheep’s stomachs, but now it comes in a wrapper. So if you want to go all Burnsy and do the ode you’ll need to get a wrapper for effect.

Ingredients

Haggis 150g/person

Potatoes for mashing 200g/person – I use Charlotte.

Neep (Swede) 200g/person

Butter

Method

This is simplicity itself.

  1. Peel and chop the neep into cubes, put it onto boil for 20min in salted water.
  2. Peel and chop the potatoes, put them onto boil for 18min in salted water.
  3. When you’ve got about 5minutes to go break the haggis into chunks in a bowl, add about a tablespoon of hot water and start microwaving it – I do 3 batches of 2 minutes on increasing power (stirring between) for a 400g haggis. Add a bit more water if it needs it to fluff up and be moist but not wet.
  4. When the potatoes are cooked, drain, put on the hob for a few seconds to dry off, then add butter and mash.
  5. Do the same for the neep but no butter – you’ll find they give up a little water when they are mashed which does the job nicely. Use a sturdy masher for the neep as they are more resistant when cooked than potatoes.
  6. Option 1 serve immediately, or option 2, layer them in a pie dish, haggis on the bottom then neep, then potato and in a pre-heated oven at 225c (fan) for 12 min.

Simple, you can get haggis sauce, or make it – but really for me it’s best just the three on a plate.