The art of Gyoza

The more I learn about food, the more I discover the similarities of cuisines. As discussed in one of my previous posts, everyone enjoys a good sandwich, no matter where we are from. The same thing can be said of the versatile dumpling. The dumpling, like the sandwich, represents an idea, an idea of wrapping a filling in pastry. As ideas can be expanded, stretched and applied in a way that is relevant to the context, there are many varieties of dumplings, from the Italian Ravioli to Chinese Wonton and Japanese Gyoza. While dumplings can be boiled, steamed, pan-fried or deep-fried, I have always fancied the pan-fried version, as the crispy bottom provides a textual boost to the steamed top and the soft and juicy filling. One of my favourite dumplings is Japanese Gyoza, and here is how you can make those culinary delights to impress family and friends!

Japanese pork Gyoza (Yaki Gyoza)

Ingredients (make around 50 pieces):

• 300 grams of fatty pork mince (note: fatty mince will ensure that the gyoza filling is juicy)
• 250 grams of white cabbage, chopped very finely
• 5 shallots, chopped very finely
• 125 grams of garlic chives, chopped very finely
• 1.5 tbsp of light soy sauce
• 1.5 tsp of white sugar
• 2.5 tbsp of Japanese cooking sake (note: you can also use Chinese cooking wine, if you wish to make the Chinese variety)
• White pepper to taste
• 1.5 tbsp of sesame oil
• 2-2.5 tbsp of corn starch (note: the corn starch should help the mince mixture achieve a slightly sticky consistency, as the starch will absorb some of the liquid)
• 2.5 tsp of grated garlic (around 3-4 cloves of garlic)
• 1.5 tsp of grated ginger
• 1.25 tbsp of oyster sauce
• 50 Gyoza wrappers
• Vegetable oil for pan frying

 

Method:

1. Chop the cabbage, shallots and garlic chives finely (as large chunks of vegetables would release too much liquid, hence making the filling too wet for the gyoza wrappers)
2. Grate the garlic and ginger
3. Add grated garlic and ginger, soy, sugar, pepper, sesame oil, corn starch, mirin, sake and oyster sauce to the pork mince. Mix the mince mixture well to reach a slightly sticky consistency (note: this consistency would ensure that the filling stays juicy when cooked). Add the chopped cabbage, shallots and garlic chives to the pork mixture, and mix well. Cover the meat filling with cling wrap and pop in the fridge to rest for 20-30 minutes in order for the pork mixture to absorb the flavours
4. Scoop 1 heap teaspoon of the pork filling onto a Gyoza wrapper. Dip your finger in water and wet one side of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half and pleat the damp side of the wrapper, and pinch both sides of the Gyoza together
5. Brush or spray a small amount of vegetable or sesame oil in a heated non-stick frying pan, sit the dumplings in batches in the pan, add enough boiling water to the pan to cover the bottoms of the dumplings (note: if you wish to use cold water, increase the steaming time slightly till the dumplings become translucent). Put the lid on and steam the dumplings on medium-high heat for 5-6 minutes, or till the water has evaporated and dumplings begin to sizzle. Add oil to the pan and put the lid back on to cook the dumplings for 1-2 minutes, or until the gyoza bottoms become crispy and golden brown. Remove the gyozas in batches and serve them crispy-side up  
6. Serve gyozas with a dipping sauce, made from mixing 1 tbsp of black vinegar (or balmasic vinegar), 1 tsbp of light soy sauce, and a couple of drops of sesame oil. If you feel extra kinky, you may add a small amount of raw minced garlic and a drop of chilli oil.

Who is the parent? The chicken or the egg?

There has been extensive debate on the subject of who the parent is-the chicken or the egg? Well, while everyone has their philosophical stance on the subject, there is one thing we can all agree on: chicken and egg taste good together. There are many 'parent and child' recipes out there, such as chicken caeser salad, chicken and egg fried rice, and chicken and egg pad thai, but if I had to choose one recipe that brings out the best of the parent and the child, it would have to be 'Oyakodon'-a popular Japanese dish that literally means 'parent and child'. Oyakodon represents the cooking philosophy behind Japanese cuisine: fresh and lean ingredients+light and flavoursome sauces+simple and quick cooking techniques=delicious and healthy dishes. The chicken and onions are braised in a sweet soy braising liquid, and the beaten eggs are added at the end of the cooking process not only to add body, but also a velvety dimension to the dish. The parent and the child form a harmonious combination of both flavour and texture. So here is how you make the Japanese chicken and egg rice bowl (Oyakodon):

Oyakodon

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 200ml instant dashi stock (‘Dashino-moto’, or instant dashi powder, is readily available from large Asian grocers)
• 4 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp cooking sake
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 4 dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated in warm water and sliced
• 1 small clove of garlic
• 400g chicken thighs, chopped into small (around 1-inch) chunks
• 6 eggs, beaten lightly
• chopped coriander or chives for garnish

Method:

1. Add dashi stock, soy sauce, cooking sake, sugar and mirin to a frying pan, turn the stove on to medium high heat and cook till the sugar has dissolved
2. Add the sliced onions, garlic and shitake mushrooms, and cook, covered, until the onions start to soften
3. Add the chopped chicken and cook covered for 6-7 minutes or until chicken is tender
4. Pour the egg mixture over the chicken mixture, cook, covered, over low heat for about 2-3 minutes or until egg just sets. Note: the egg mixture should be just set, as we are not after scrambled eggs here. Remove from heat and keep covered to cook the egg mixture a while longer, if desired
5. Serve Oyakodon with steamed rice in a bowl. Garnish with chopped coriander or chives.

Asians like it stinky.

Over the years, I have eaten around the world and cooked countless recipes from around the globe, Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Malaysian, you name it. At the end of the day, the flavours that I cannot resist are those pungent and borderline stinky. As a matter of fact, observations and research I have carried out over the years can only point to one simple yet obvious conclusion: Asians like it stinky. Question: what is the one thing the following Asian ingredients have in common? Korean kimchi, Chinese fermented tofu, century-year-old egg, Korean fermented bean paste, Malaysian shrimp paste ('Belacan'), durian and Vietnamese fish sauce. See a pattern here? Yes, the answer is: they all STINK!! I would have to take my hat off to the 'culinary pioneer' who discovered durian, which is a large south-east Asian fruit (dubbed the king of fruits’), with a thorn-covered husk. Inside the evil-looking husk are segments of cream-coloured pulp with a texture that resembles sticky custard, and odour that resembles what comes out after a bad night out at the local Indian restaurant. I wonder what had possessed the person who first discovered the fruit to open up the thick thorny husk, take a whip of that indescribably-foul-smelling flesh, and go: "hmm, I am going to stick it in my mouth"!!!! I have over the years come up with various theories (such as maybe the Malays had seen monkeys eat durian, hence decided to give it a crack themselves, or starving Malays stuck in the jungle with nothing but durians to eat, etc), but how durian became a regional favourite remains a mystery to me. When it comes to stinky Asian foods, you either LOVE them so dearly you have to have them all the time, or HATE them so passionately you cannot stay from them far enough. Like durian, Korean kimchi is also one of those things that you either love or hate. The most common Kimchi is Chinese cabbage fermented in fish sauce, salt, chilli and garlic. If you wish to understand Koreans' love affair with garlic and chilli, there is no better way to start your Korean food education than eating Kimchi. It is refreshing, tangy, spicy, salty and most importantly, STINKY. Its iconic role in the Korean cuisine is undeniable, as Koreans eat it as an essential condiment to every meal (breakfast included). You can smell a Korean coming before you can see them in flesh and blood, as the garlic breath travels far and fast. Like other fermented and pickled foods, Kimchi was invented for practical reasons-to preserve vegetables for the cold harsh winter when nothing grows, but I believe Kimchi serves other practical benefits, such as preventing the spreading of flu viruses. The reason is simple: nobody would want to go anywhere near you after you eat Kimchi!

I can go on for days about the wonderfully-addictive stinky foods of Asia. I guess those stinky foods were invented/discovered because it makes sense-stinky foods are pungent and flavoursome, and we like strong flavours. For those adventurous people out there who have never tried any of the stinky Asian foods, it is time to step out of your comfort zone and try something new and exciting. You may end up picking up a few new food addictions, like the Kimchi-loving Italian I met last week!

Chinese New Year dinner-the most important dinner of the year

I am usually not one who supports cultural stereotypes, yet, even I have to admit that the Chinese love food. The love for food runs through our veins, and eating forms an integral part of the chinese culture- 'Chinese' and 'food' belong to the same sentence, we live to eat, the Chinese wouldn't be able to pull off a hunger strike. Does not matter whether we are socializing, catching up, celebrating or chilling out, the only constant is the presence of food-and lots of it! Out of all the meals we consume in a year, the most important one would have to be the Chinese New Year dinner on NYE. While I do not celebrate Chinese New Year religiously, I can't help but feeling the festive vibe during the chinese festive season. This year I was invited to spend Chinese NYE with my childhood buddy and her lovely family. I knew straight away that it was going to one culinary experience to remember.

Time flies. On my way to dinner, I was struggling to focus on getting there, as I was trying to figure out why I could smell food in the car (there was nothing edible in the car, yet, I felt like I was surrounded by aromas of food). I managed to get there in one piece, phew~~~ I was welcomed into the house with open arms, and the irresistable smell of food coming from the kitchen. I am not imagining this time, I thought. My taste buds were savouring every ounce of the aroma coming from the kitchen, and my imagination was busy constructing the visuals to match. Everyone was watching tennis on TV, so I decided I'd join in. Even the most exciting tennis match could not distract me from what was happening in the kitchen. News break! Dinner was ready, about time (before I had to resort to nibbling on my arm!), I thought. On the dinner table sat tuna sushimi with wasabi and soy, sweet and sour cucumber salad, silken tofu with chopped century-old eggs and pickles, king prawns, hot and sour soup with sea cucumber, ginger and bacon, san choy bao, spicy mud crab, stir-fried beef, Thai-inspired lamb cutlets, fish cakes, thai prawn salad, prune wrapped in bacon, mini-open-sandwiches of pesto and roast beef, and stir-fried snake beans with spicy black bean sauce. If there was ever a food event that deserves the sentiment of 'OMG' (for those of you who still live in the 20th century, it means 'Oh My God'), then O-M-G! Food galore was what was presented in front of me! I wish I could buy an external stomach for storage! As I was savouring each mouth full of this and that, I thought picking a favourite would be as difficult as picking your favourite child, as I love all of my food babies dearly and equally! If someone pointed a gun to my head and the only way to save myself was to pick a favourite dish, my (life-saving) votes would go to the lemon-grass-infused Thai-inspired grilled lamb cutlets. The only word that could do the aromatic and melt-in-your-mouth lamb justice was 'orgasmic'. It was so perfectly tender you don't even need teeth to chew it. The beautiful cameralisation on the cutlets had the sweet Thai marinade to thank for. There is never going to be enough of those lamb cutlets in the world, as now that I have had it, I will always want it. I WANT MORE!!

3 hours later, after a 20-course dinner, I was EXHAUSTED! My stomach and I both needed to rest (and possibly fast for the next month). It was a dinner to remember. The food was plentiful, beautiful and scrumptious. The ingredients had been treated with respect and plenty of TLC. But what was more memorable was the company-it was the generosity and sincerity of the family that left a sweet and lingering aftertaste in my mouth. Here is wishing a happy 2012 to all, Chinese and otherwise! Enjoy and be good!

My no-bake (no-fuss) cheese cake with mixed berries

Food, to me, is an essential element of good living. I am particularly hopeless when it comes to food shows on TV (note: I am not just talking about cooking shows, any show that is remotely related to food is guaranteed to have my full attention). A couple of years ago, I got hooked on an Australian cooking competition show called 'My Kitchen Rules' (MKR), where teams from all around the country cook their best 3-course meal in their own home to win the judges' votes. Inspired by the show, me and a couple of foodie friends decided that we should have our own MKR dinners at each other's homes. Since there were six of us (teams of two), the hosting team will cook the main, and the other two teams will cook entree and dessert. At the end of the night, votes are cast to determine which team makes the winning dish. The monthly tradition was going strong until the second half of 2011, when busy schedules and health issues got in the way of party planning. At the end of 2011, we decided to bring back the MKR tradition in 2012. I still remember the moment, as I was marking the MKR dinner on my calendar, I started to drool because I was picturing images of beautifully-cooked and garnished food, sitting as pretty as a picture next to polished cutleries, on a lovely table for six.

The day has finally arrived. T and J are hosting the dinner, so the main is their responsibility. D and I are in charge of dessert-wait, I should rephrase, I am in charge of dessert, as D cannot even tell the difference between parmesan and ricottta. After a week of going back and forward on recipes, and weighing the uncomfortable effects of the hot weather with the importance of 'showing off', I finally locked in on a no-bake cheese cake with mixed berries. The recipe is the embodiment of simplicity and beauty-simple to make, yet, it looks as pretty as a picture, and is guaranteed to get the tastebuds excited. I started by processing 3.5 packets (roughly) 340 grams of Oreo biscuits (the cream filling and all) with 60 grams of butter to a sandy rubble in a food processor, then press the mixture into the sides and bottom of a standard tart tin. The mixture needs to be put in the freezer for 15 minutes to set, then popped in the fridge to keep cool. While the mixture is sitting comfortably in the fridge, chilled, I could only wish I was THAT chilled in the kitchen, on a hot summer afternoon. I decided that before the heat got the better of me, I need to tackle the hardest part of the recipe-melting mash mellows (anything that requires the stove is going to be a challenge, I thought). Don't get me wrong, melting mash mellows isn't difficult technically (all you have to do is melt the mash mellows with a dash of cream or a small nob of butter on low heat), but any form of COOKING would cause me discomfort and possible dehydration on such a hot day. For 400 grams of cottage cheese, you need 3/4 of a packet of mash mellows, which serves as a 'setting' agent for the cheese cake. It is perfect for no-bake cheese cakes as such, as you get both the gelentine AND the sugar in mash mellows-that is 'killing two birds with one stone' for me. Cream the cheese in a food processor/blender with the juice of one lemon, then add the melted mash mellows till all the ingredients are well combined. Pour the cheese filling into the tart base and spread it evenly. You can use whatever summer berries, but I picked blackberries, strawberries and blueberries for color and flavour. The vibrant colour of the fresh strawberries provides a sharp contrast with the deep colours of the blackberries and blueberries, and brightens the whole cheesecake with that touch of 'glamour'. Arrange the berries in a decorative manner, and pop the cheesecake back to the fridge to set for at least 4 hours. I know that it would be a struggle to have to wait that long, but trust me, it is going to be well worth it. I was opening and closing the fridge every half hour to poke, drool and admire, but I am not one to boast self control when it comes to food this yummy and beautiful. This simple recipe is going to get you plenty of brownie points from loved ones, as it looks like you had been slaving in the kitchen for hours (when the only cooking you did was melting mashies!).

A tip or two on how to make vegetables tasty

I recently watched a British documentary titled 'Fast Food Baby' on ABC. The first thought that popped into my head after the show was 'how can parents expect their children to eat those bland plain-boiled vegetables that look like they have had all the vitamines and nutrients boiled out of them'? While my heart goes out to parents who try desperately to get their kids to eat fibre, the reality is if I were a kid, I probably would not consider broccoli or zuchinni that is plain-boiled without any flavours or raw celery sticks as remotely edible. It can only be commonsense that before parents can expect to get their kids to eat veggies without them sticking a tube down their throat, they must first learn how to make them tasty. There are so many delicious child-friendly vegie recipes out there that no kid deserves to be fed tasteless strings of fibre. All it takes is some innovative spirit and basic understanding of flavour combinations to make even the least popular vegies tasty. For instance, while raw cucumber can be quite bland on its own, you can whip up a tangy sweet and sour cucumber salad with chopped cucumber, garlic (or garlic salt), rice vinegar, sugar and a dash of soy. For the adult version, add chopped red chilli for a flavour boost. Eggplant can be tasteless on its own, and take on a slightly bitter taste if overcooked, but it acts as a 'flavour sponge' when cooked with other ingredients. For example,pan-fried eggplant with garlic and balsamic vinegar makes a simple-yet-delicious child-friendly dish. If there was ever a 'most-hated vegetable for children' list, then broccoli would most certainly top that list without a doubt. A simple make-over, however, is all it takes to boost broccoli's reputation. There are so many flavours that go well with broccoli, such as stir-fried broccoli with garlic and soy, steamed broccoli (not the over-cooked broccoli that takes on a poopy-brown colour) with a garlic and cheese sauce, or simply melted butter. I could sit here all day going on about how to make vegies taste good, OR I could urge all parents to folllow this simple recipe: season vegies with a bit of commonsense, creativity and knowledge, and what comes out WILL be eaten!

Quick spicy stew with leftover roast chicken, red pepper, leek and baby spinach-a recipe that makes Coles's $10 dinner campaign look like a scam!

Ingredients (for 4 people):

• ½ of leftover roast chicken ($8 for a whole roast chook from Franklins, so about $4-5 worth of leftover chicken)
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed ($0.20)     
• 1 large red capsicum or 2 small red capsicums ($2), cut into strips
• 1 large leek ($1.5),
• 1-2 birds eye chili ($0.10),
• Salt and pepper to taste (price negligible)
• 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce (price negligible)
• A handful of coriander ($0.50)
• 3 handfuls of baby spinach ($1.5-2)
• 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar (price negligible)           
• 1 teaspoon of sugar (price negligible)
• Olive oil (price negligible)

Total price: approximately AUD$10

Method:

Shred the chicken meat into strips (note: only use the chicken meat in this recipe, minus the skin, as the skin has too much of the roast chicken flavour for this Asian-inspired recipe). Sautee the garlic and leek in a dash of olive oil. Add some salt to help soften the leek. When the leek is softened, add the red capsicum strips, chili and black pepper. Put the lid on, and stew the veggies on medium heat for about 5-6 mins, or until the leek becomes creamy and capsicum softened. Add the chicken strips, soy sauce, rice vinegar and sugar, cook for 2-3 minutes until all the flavours are combined and chicken heated through. Add the baby spinach and cook with the lid on for 1-2 minutes, or until the spinach is wilted. Garnish with coriander and serve with steamed rice.

This recipe puts Coles’s $10 dinner campaign to shame, as it transforms the humble leftover cold chicken into a well-balanced one-pot wonder that goes a long way (rather than Coles’s $10 dinner recipes that mostly consist of only meat and carb). You can bulk up the dish even more by adding 1 more capsicum and leek, maybe even a few baby potatoes. You can replace the pricy baby spanich with its cheaper cousin English spanich. The carcass and skin can be kept to make a delicious chicken stock. There is no better way to use up the good ol' leftover roast chicken!