What is gyoza?
A thin wrapper, a tender filling and, in the pan-fried version, a crisp bottom.
Ninja City
A dumpling with several ways to cook it
Gyoza are Japanese dumplings with roots in Chinese dumpling cooking. A thin wrapper encloses meat, vegetables or a combination. Pork and cabbage are a familiar filling, but they aren’t the only one.
Pan-fried gyoza have a browned base and a softer upper wrapper. Boiled and deep-fried versions exist too, so gyoza doesn’t name just one cooking method.
Why the bottom crisps and the top stays tender
A common pan method combines frying and steaming. The dumplings brown against the pan, then a little water and a lid create steam. Uncovering the pan lets the water evaporate and the bottoms crisp again.
Namiko Hirasawa Chen demonstrates that sequence in her gyoza recipe. It explains the two textures in one dumpling: direct contact with the pan below, steam around the wrapper above.
Gyoza, spring rolls or steam buns?
Our pan-fried gyoza come with chicken or vegetable filling and ginger soy sauce. A lunch side or dinner Sizzling Gyoza order has four dumplings.
O.G. Spring Rolls have pork and mixed vegetables in a rolled wrapper, with sweet garlic vinaigrette. Steam buns are soft bread folded around protein and toppings. If you want to compare the smaller dishes, the dinner Ninja Sampler includes gyoza, spring rolls and edamame.
Keep reading
Further reading