Grilled vegan gyoza (dumplings)

Although it is getting easier to find Chinese ingredients in London, it can still be quite a mission to find high-quality vegan gyoza at affordable prices. If you live in a smaller town, I can imagine it is even more challenging.

King loves gyoza and has a really high standard for them. Since we eat gyoza all the time I prefer to make my own at home in a large batch and then freeze them. It makes it really easy and convenient whenever you have a last-minute craving.

Today I am going to share my very best gyoza recipe with you. I know it’s quite lengthy and has been labelled intermediate but please don’t be scared. In fact, making your own gyoza at home is fun and easy. This recipe is only so long because I’ve assumed that most people probably won’t have made gyoza before and so I’ve tried to describe the steps in as much detail as possible.

First, you will need to soak the dried wood ear and shiitake mushrooms in water overnight. If you’re in a last-minute rush, you could alternatively soak them in boiling hot water for 30 mins. Cut the shiitake mushrooms in half if they’re chunky.

Soak the glass noodles in boiling hot water until softened, drain and set aside. It usually takes 8-10 minutes, but please double check the instructions on your packet because all brands are different.

Drain the mushrooms and squeeze out any excess water. You can keep the water as dashi for making miso soup 😉

Wrap the tofu in kitchen paper and squeeze tightly to remove all the excess water.

Once you have completed the first part of preparation, get out the ingredients you need for the filling.

Finely chop all the filling ingredients. Alternatively, if you’ve got a good food processor then you can roughly chop everything, put in the processor, and let it does its job. What you want is small dices of vegetables like the photo below, not a paste.

Heat the oil in a large, non-stick frying pan, add the minced garlic and fry until golden.

Drop in the chopped filling ingredients, season with black pepper, salt, and light soy sauce, stir frying until the vegetables have softened.

Add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch to 2 teaspoons of water, pour in, and mix well. Stir fry until all the water has evaporated. Remove the filling from the stove, let it cool down and rest for 5-10 minutes.

Set up your workstation with the filling, pastry sheets, a small bowl of water, and a tray lined with cling film for the finished gyozas.

Hold a sheet in the palm of your non-dominant hand.

Place approximately 1 small tablespoon of filling onto the centre of the sheet. Dip your finger in a bowl of water and gently wet the edge of the pastry.

Most dumpling pastry sheets are not in an exact circle but in an oval shape. To make a round and chunky gyoza, best to fold the pastry in half from the longer side.

Working from one side, seal the pastry by folding it into a crescent shape, pleating each edge as it meets the other. Seal the gyoza to keep the filling in the centre.

For the final step, place the sealed gyoza onto the worktop and push gently so the gyoza has a flat bottom, making it easier to fry the dumpling in a pan.

Voila, you have your first dumpling done!!!👏

Transfer the finished gyoza to the tray. Repeat the same process until all of your pastry sheets have been filled and sealed.

This process can be a little time consuming if you’re not familiar with the folding technique. King and I sometimes spend a weekend afternoon together, playing our favourite music with a glass of wine and making 100s of gyoza together. We really enjoy it! 🥟🥟🥟

A pack of dumpling pastry usually contains around 25 sheets, and this recipe usually makes 50 gyoza. If you don’t have a huge family and you’re not making them for a party, it’s unlikely you can finish them all in one go.

In order to store the gyoza, make sure the gyozas are not touching each other.

When the tray has been filled with one layer of gyoza, place another layer of cling film on top and then start adding more gyoza.

Place the whole tray in the freezer overnight.

Once the gyoza are firm, you can then transfer them into a more space-efficient freezer bag and store for up to 6 months in the freezer.

Now, it is cooking time! You can use the same cooking method for both frozen and freshly made gyoza.

Heat the oil in a large, non-stick frying pan and place the gyozas into the pan with the flat side facing down. Make sure you leave gaps between each gyoza so that they don’t stick together.

Pour about 60ml of water into the pan. Cover the lid immediately, turn the heat to medium-high and allow the gyozas to simmer. Keep the lid on until there is no water left in the pan.

When hot oil and water mix it can create crazy hot sprinkles that can cause nasty burns. This is why we close the lid immediately when cooking gyoza, so please be careful when you’re cooking. You can judge by the sizzling sound when the water has evaporated.

Flip over the gyozas. You should see a golden brown colour developing. Fry on the other side for another 2-3 minutes until both sides are nice and even.

Serve with your preferred sauce. My favourite one is soy sauce with sesame, ginger, vinegar and maybe a dash of chilli oil… 🤤

Try your first homemade pan-fried gyoza with this easy-to-follow recipe. These gyozas are so juicy and crispy; incredibly delicious and definitely worth the effort. Once you try them you won’t go back to pre-made supermarket gyoza again!

If you want to improve your dumpling-making skills, you may also want to try out my kale and mushroom puff dumpling recipe.

Let me know if you try out this recipe. You can leave a comment below, or take a picture and tag it with #k33_kitchen and share it on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with. Cheers, hope you enjoy my recipes!