Chicken Gyoza

Chicken Gyoza, basically its chicken dumpling that is normally steamed or fried. The casing is light and thin that encanses a spicy chicken and vegetable mixture. This recipe was inspired by my love of eating dumplings and my brother's craving for wanting to eat it for breakfast. You can do any filling you want from vegetable, to prawn to pork, whatever you are craving for this recipe will satisfy you. I serve this recipe with garlic rice but you can eat it on its own or with a delicious dipping sauce.

Recipe makes 25-30 dumplings

Ingredients:

Wrappers:

• 250g of plain flour
• 5oz of boiling water
• 1/4 tsp of salt

Filling:

• 2 chicken breast diced
• 1/2 (red) chilli diced
• 2 garlic cloves diced
• 1 carrot diced
• 3 spring onions
• 2 tbsp of light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp of oil

Dipping sauce:

• 1 crushed garlic clove
• 2 tbsp of light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp of caster sugar
• 1 finely sliced spring onion

Method

Wrappers:
Combine the salt and flour in a bowl. Make a well and pour the hot water in the center. Mix quickly with a fork.Move the dough onto a non-stick working surface. Don’t worry if the dough looks dry and crumbly. Simply gather them together and make them into a ball. Now knead the dough for about 5-10 minutes. The dough should not be sticky and should be pretty easy to handle. Once the dough is well kneaded and bouncy, cut it into four equal pieces. Roll each piece into a thick rope and cut it into eight equal pieces. It’s easier to cut it in half first, and cut that in half again, and again, to make eight pieces. I put the little pieces in that bowl that I used to mix the flour and water to set them aside. You can put a wet paper towel on top to stop them from drying but you should be okay if you work fairly quickly. Leave to the side.

Filling:
In a medium sized pan, place 1tbsp of oil and sautee garlic and chicken on a medium heat. Once the chicken is cooked add your carrots, spring onions and chilli. Sautee for 3-4 mins and add your soy sauce. Taste your filling and re-season if needed. Once everything is cooked place on a plate to cool down.

Making the dumplings:
Put a piece of  the wrapper dough on your palm and roll it to make a small ball. Put the ball down on the non-stick surface and roll the dough into a thin piece using a rolling pin.
Take a teaspoon-full of the filling and place it in the middle of the dough. Close the top by creating several creases, and pinch the opening shut. Place the dumplings on a non-stick surface or a plate covered in clingfilm.

Cook:
 In a large pan, place 1 tbsp of oil on a medium heat. Once, the pan is hot place 4-5 dumplings and allow the bottom of the dumpling to go crispy. Now decrease the heat and add 3 tbsp of water and cover with a lid. Allow to cook for 6 mins.

Sauce:
 When the dumplings are cooking, make your dipping sauce place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix.

Serve: Take the dumplings out of the pan, they should be translucent and serve with your dipping sauce.

Enjoy !!