Gyoza 餃子(ぎょうざ)

It place the gyoza may look difficult to make Gyoza, but once you know how to cook them it’s actually pretty simple.  You can be very creative and try different ingredients for filling based on your own preference.
Japanese Gyoza is distinctly different from Chinese potstickers.  Chinese potstickers tend to have a thicker skin and the filling is mostly meat.  Japanese consider Gyoza more of a side dish to complement our rice whereas the Chinese sometime eat potstickers as the main course.  Japanese Gyoza wrappers are thinner and smaller, so make sure you buy the right wrappers specifically for Japanese Gyoza.
Today I teach you how to make Gyoza wrappers at home but if you want to buy Gyoza wrappers you can buy them

Ingredients:
2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour (or 120 g bread flour + 120 g cake flour)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup (120 ml) just-boiled water plus more if necessary
1 1/2 Tbsp. oil for frying each batch of gyoza
1/4 cup water for frying each batch of gyoza
1 Tbsp. sesame oil for frying each batch of gyoza

Filling:

2-3 (140 g, 5 oz) cabbage leaves
1-2 (15 g, 0.5 oz) green onion/scallion
2 shiitake mushrooms
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. grated ginger
Seasonings
1/2 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Dipping sauce:

1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/8 tsp. La-Yu (Japanese chili oil) (optional)

Gyoza Wrap Instrustion:

Before you start, you need to accurately measure flour. If you don’t have a kitchen scale (I highly recommend you to get one), stir the flour in the bowl, scoop it up with a spoon into the 1-cup measuring cup, and level off the top. Put the flour into a medium bowl. The amount of flour shoud be close to standard 4.25 oz (120 g) per cup.

Sift the flour into a large bowl.

Add salt to just-boiled water and mix until completely dissolved.

Add the just-boiled water into the flour little by little, stirring with a rubber spatula. You will eventually need to use your hands to form the dough into a ball. If the flour is still separated, add 1/2 Tbsp. water at a time till you can form the texture into a ball.

Transfer the dough to the work surface and knead the dough for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, the texture of the dough will be much smoother. Cut the dough in half.
Cover the dough with damp kitchen towel at all time to prevent from drying.

For each piece of dough into a ball shape.

Press the ball onto the work surface.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough, but DO NOT roll out (flatten) the TOP and BOTTOM edge. This is a trick to make a nice round shape.

Gyoza Preparation:

Microwave cabbage leaves for 1 minute and chop into very small pieces. Mince green onion and shiitake mushrooms as well.

Combine all ingredients and seasonings and knead the mixture with hands until the texture becomes sticky.

Add the rest of fillings and continue to knead.

Wrap the filling with gyoza wrappers . To save gyoza for later, please see my Notes.

Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium high heat. When the pan is hot, place the gyoza.

When the bottom of the gyoza turns golden brown, add 1/4 cup of water to the pan.

Immediately cover with a lid and steam the gyoza for about 2 minutes or until most of the water evaporates.

Remove the lid to evaporate any remaining water. Add sesame oil and cook uncovered until the gyoza is nice and crisp on the bottom. Transfer to a plate. For the gyoza lined up in circular shape, place a serving plate on top of the pan and quickly flip.I deep fry some gyoza fFor different taste so you also can deep fry them.

For the dipping sauce, combine the sauce ingredients in a small plate and mix all together. Serve the gyoza with dipping sauce.