pork & shrimp potstickers (gyoza)

Hello again! It's been two years since I last published a post. (what!!!) Happy Lunar New Year to everyone! Tomorrow I have the opportunity to share my love of cooking with some friends from church. It's been awhile since I last cooked in front of the crowd, so I'm pretty nervous & excited!
There are many ways to make potstickers, so feel free to use your creativity to make one of a kind potstickers.  It's fun to make with your family & friends, too! This is the basic recipe I usually make. Happy cooking!

Ingredients: 

Napa Cabbage - 5 cups chopped finely 
Ground pork - 3 cup **see TIPs
Green onion - 1/4 cup (chopped) 
Garlic - 3 cloves (minced)
Ginger - 1 inch block (minced)
Shrimp - 1 cup (chop - chunks or paste type) **see Prep 

Soy sauce - 2 TBS
Sesame oil - few drops
salt & pepper - 1/2 tsp each 
sugar - 1 tsp

Potsticker/Gyoza wrappers (circular shape)** see TIPS

Water - 1/4 cup
Flour - 1 TBS 

[Sauce]

Soy sauce - 1/4 cup
Vinegar or Rice vinegar - 3 TBS
Sugar - 1-2 tsp
Chili flake (optional) - 1 tsp 

Prep:

1. Wash napa cabbage leafs & chop finely. 
2. Mince garlic and ginger. 
3. Take shells off shrimp, then chop it until it become pasty. I use two knives and chop really fast or you can put in a blender.

How to Cook?

1. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients (except the wrappers, water & flour). Mix using wooden spoon or I like to use my hands. 
2. Prepare a bowl of water. 
3. On a wrapper, put about 1/2 inch ball in the middle. With your finger, trace the edge of the wrapper with water. Fold in half and pinch at the middle. Starting at the top, make pleats (will take pictures soon). Repeat until you finish all the filling.
4. [Cooking method 1 - Frying] On a frying pan, evenly coat 2 TBS of oil. When it's hot, put the flat side down on the pan, line them up so it makes a nice circular shape. Fry for 3-4 minutes, until the bottom turns brown (you can check by lifting one). Meanwhile, mix 1/4 cup water with 1 TBS of flour. **see TIPS. When it's brown, pour in the water mix and cover to let it steam cook for another 3-4 minutes. When it's done, flip on the plate. 
5. [Cooking method 2 - Soup dumpling] In a pot, boil chicken broth. Add in vegetables like carrots.  When the carrots are soft, add in potstickers and bak choy. Cook for 10-12 minutes. 
6. [Cooking method 3 - Deep fried] In a stainless steel pot, add in 1/2 inch oil. When it's hot, add in postickers **see TIPs. It won't cover the whole posticker, so you need to flip it when one side is golden brown. Serve with Thai chili sauce. 

TIPS

• You can substitute ground pork with ground turkey, chicken or soft tofu. 
• If you can only find square shape wrapper, you can use circular cutter or make into wanton shape 
• By mixing flour and water, it creates a crispy layer at the bottom of the pan
• When deep frying, the best result is using freshly made ones. Watch out when you deep fry thawed ones or frozen potstickers. 
• Asian Marketplace: 
• Pacific Ocean Market (6600 W 120th Ave, Broomfield, CO 80020) 
• H Mart (5036 W 92nd Ave, Westminster, CO 80031)

sauce katsu don

Usually, katsu don is katsu (deep-fried breaded pork cutlet) + egg + onion + rice. This sauce katsu don has sweet & tangy sauce to it. Right after deep frying the pork, you dip it in the special sauce and you have both yummy taste and texture. (This recipe works best with thin pork slices.)

Ingredients:

Thin cut pork - 1/2 pound (0.5cm thick) **see TIPS

Flour - 1/2 cup
Eggs - 1 (or more, beaten)
Panko (Japanese bread crumbs) - 1 cup or as much as needed

[Sauce]
Onion - 1/2 medium (chopped)
Tonkatsu sauce - 1/2 cup
Mirin - 1 TBS
Cooking wine (optional) - 1 TBS
Brown sugar - 1 TBS
Water - 2 TBS
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Pepper - 1/4 tsp

Vegetable oil for frying

Cabbage - 1/4 med (thinly sliced)
Rice

Prep:

1. Cook rice
2. Thinly slice cabbage. Wash, rinse and keep in the fridge until later. 
3. Thinly slice pork. Season with salt & pepper. 
4. Chop/mince onion. 

Cook:

1. [Katsu] Take seasoned thin sliced. Coat it with flour, dip in egg and lightly press on panko (Japanese bread crumbs). Repeat for all. 
2. [Sauce] In a small saucepan, fry chopped onion in 1/2 TBS of olive oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Add in rest of the ingredients under sauce. Let it simmer for 15-20 min, until it thickens. 
3. In a stainless steel pot, heat 1/2 to 1 inch of vegetable oil. Test the oil by sprinkle some bread crumbs in and when it bubbles up, it's ready. It doesn't 'deep fry' the whole thing at once, so deep fry one side for 2-3 minutes then turn to the other side and deep fry for another 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. 
4. Take the cooked katsu onto paper toweled plate. 

 Serve:

1. Right before you eat, put rice in the bowl, top with sliced cabbage. 
2. Take the deep fried pork cutlets and dip it in the sauce. Top the cabbage (4-5 slices/bowl). Pour more sauce on top. 

 TIPS

• Pork can be thin slice. If it's very thin, then pile 2-3 slices together as one. 
• You can also use other meat - chicken, beef or ham (or bacon?)

fish with miso & mushroom sauce

Here's an easy 30-minute meal. Easy to prep, easy to cook. This dish will make you want to eat more rice! It's miso base, but got a nice kick with oyster sauce and sugar. Enjoy! 

Ingredients:

White fish (e.g. Tilapia) - 1 fillet (**see TIPS)
Salt & pepper for marinade
Shiitake mushroom - 3 medium (sliced)

[Miso sauce]
Miso - 2 TBS
Water - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 2 tsp
Oyster sauce - 2 tsp

Green onion - 1 stalk (chopped)

Prep: 

1. Cut the fish into 2 inch chunks. Rub it lightly with salt & pepper. Set it aside.
2. Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms and slice thinly when softened. 
3. Mix the miso sauce well. 
4. Chop green onion. 

Cook:

1. In a wok or frying pan, heat 1 TBS of oil. When it's hot, fry fish fillet - 1 minute on each side. 
2. Add mushroom and miso sauce mix. Cover and let it cook for 3 minutes. 
3. Uncover and turn the fish so the sauce will be well integrated (**see TIPS). Cook under low-medium heat until the sauce thickens. If it's too thick or too salty, add water (1TBS at a time).

Serve:

1.  Sprinkle chopped green onion on top and serve with warm rice. 

TIPS

• White fish -- Costco sells both frozen kind and fresh kind. Fresh ones seem to be thicker and bigger than the frozen ones. Make sure the amount of fish used will be at least 3 inch by 5 inch and 1/3 inch thick. 
• If the sauce is too salty, cook more fish on another pan and add them in.
• Fish is easily broken into pieces, so turn gently.

leek & honey pork

I only have one or two leek recipes, so I wanted to expand my leek collection. I came across this one and tried it. I should've used a fattier piece of meat, but it turned out better than I expected. :) If you have any leek recipes, please share with me. :)

Ingredients:

Pork - about 1 lbs

[Pork marinade]
Honey - 4 TBS
Cooking oil - 2 TBS
Soy sauce - 1/3 cup
Anise - 1 (med) or 2 (small)
Leek - about 5 inches (thin slices)
Ginger - 2 TBS (minced)
Garlic - 1 TBS (minced)

Prep:

1. Put the pork and all the marinade ingredients in a Ziplock bag. Massage the meat well with the marinade. Let it sit in the marinade (in the fridge) for at least an hour. *see TIPS
2. On a baking safe dish, line it with aluminum foil. 

Cook:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. On a hot grill or wok, heat 2 TBS of oil. 
3. Take the meat out from the marinade. Transfer the marinade on a smaller saucepan. 
4. Heat the saucepan on low for 5-10 minutes. 
5. On a hot grill, fry the pork 3 minutes on one side and turn for another 3 minutes. It's not cooked all the way. 
6. Transfer to baking dish (on aluminum foil) and pour the marinade mixture on top. 
7. Bake for 10 minutes, turn the meat and bake for another 10 minutes. Cover aluminum foil and bake for extra 5-7 minutes. The marinade should caramelize. **TIPS

Serve:

1. Take out the cooked meat out on a chopping board. Let it sit for 5 minutes. 
2. Slice the meat into desired thickness. 
3. Serve with rice or ramen (like char siu ramen) 

 TIPS

• You can marinade a day before as well. 
• If you don't have oven or don't want to bake, you can just use frying pan or grill. Add marinade to the grill/wok and follow the instructions.

stuffed egg fry

Japanese call deep-fried panko coated food "fry" (fu-ra-i). I wanted to use eggs and this was the end result. :) It turned out better than I expected. It's easy and fun to prepare, so you can have your kids help out in the kitchen, too. It looks really cute (egg-shaped deep-fried food - so cute!), it'll definitely be a hit at potluck or party. 

Ingredients: 

(Makes 12 fried eggs)

Eggs - 6 (hard boiled)

Onion - 1/2 (chopped)
Carrots - 1 med (finely chopped)
Ham, Sausage, Bacon or SPAM - 1 cup full **see TIPS

Mayonnaise (Japanese) - 2 TBS
Corn starch - 1/2 TBS
Garlic salt - 1/2 tsp 

[Panko coating]
Flour - 1/2 cup
Egg - 2 (beaten)
Bread crumbs (panko) - 2-3 cups

Prep:

1. Boil eggs for 10-12 minutes. Take it out and set is aside or run it through cold water. Shell the eggs. Set it aside.
2. Chop onion, carrots and your choice of meat into small pieces. 

Cook:

1. Cut the eggs in half. Take the cooked yolk out and put it in a medium bowl.
2. Heat 1 TBS of olive oil the frying pan. Fry onion and carrots until carrots are nice and tender. a
3. Add in meat. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add in mayonnaise, corn starch and salt. The taste should be a little bit salty. Dish out the meat mixture into yolk bowl. 
5. Mix using spoon until it's easy to work with. 
6. In each egg white shell, take about 1 big tablespoonful of meat. Press it down using your hands like you're making a ball (or onigiri, if you know how to make it). Make sure you press it tightly. Repeat for the rest of the eggs. 
7. Coat each egg with flour, eggs and panko. The filling might drop off, so be gentle and hold the middle part as you coat them. 
8. Deep fry in vegetable oil (or half deep-fry and turn, to use less oil) until golden brown. **see TIPS 

 Serve:

1. Salad or pickled vegetables go well with this dish. Don't forget nice, hearty miso soup -- personally, it's a must-have for Japanese meals. :) 
2. Serve with tonkatsu (fruit & vegetable) sauce, or kojujyan sauce (from calamari salad recipe), or mayonnaise. 

TIPS:

• You can use one type of meat, or combination of meat. You just need 1 cup of chopped meat. If you don't have any of the mentioned meat, you can also use ground beef or pork. 
• When deep frying, make sure the oil is hot enough. Test it by sprinkling some panko in the oil. If it sizzles and floats, it's ready. If it sinks, wait a little longer. If the food is already cooked, you don't need long time to deep-fry. 
• Also, when deep frying at home, use smaller pots and less oil. Half deep-fried works great. Fill the pot 1-2 inch high.

oshizushi (pressed sushi)

One of the fillings in this oshizushi is sweetened tuna. When I was in college, my friend made this dish for me. I was having a really bad day and before my friend left to go to school, she made this sweet tuna with hot rice and a very nice note. I ended up eating three bowls of rice and finished the tuna. I felt much better after that. She taught me how to make this so if I ever had bad days, I can always make it. :) I didn't really have a bad day, but I was thinking of her so I made it. I'm grateful to have such a wonderful friend (who can also cook).

Ingredients:

Japanese rice - 4 cups
Sushi-ko (sushi powder) - 1/2 packet or more to your liking

Tuna can - 1 (small)
Salmon - 1 fillet
Shiitake mushroom - 1 cup (sliced)
Eggs - 2 (beaten)

soy sauce
Cooking rice wine (optional)
Mirin (optional)

Prep:

1. Cook rice.
2. Soak shiitake mushroom in hot water. 
3. Prepare one baking loaf (5 by 9-ish) pan by lining it with saran wrap. 

Soak mushroom in water

Cook:

1. Turn the rice cooker off, take the rice out in a big bowl. Mix in sushi ko or sushi su (rice vinegar)
2. On a frying pan, heat 1 TBS of oil. Fry salmon fillet, break into smaller flakes. Season with salt. Take it out in a bowl. 
3. On the same frying pan, heat 1/2 TBS of oil. Drain water from tuna can. Fry tuna flakes for one minute. Add in 1 TBS of soy sauce, 1 TBS sugar, 1 tsp of cooking rice wine (if you're using) and 2 tsp mirin. Fry until almost dried up. Set it aside in another bowl.
4. Wipe the frying pan. Add in 1/2 TBS of oil. Fry shiitake mushroom. Add in 1/2 TBS soy sauce, 2 tsp sugar and pinch of salt. Set it aside. 
5. Beat 2 eggs in a bowl and add pinch of salt and pinch of white pepper. Coat the frying pan with thin layer of oil (use paper towel or brush). Cook thin layer of egg and fry for 1 minute. Flip and fry for another 30 seconds. Repeat. Cool and cut into thin strips. **see TIPS

Sweetened tuna

Break salmon into smaller flakes

Rice + sushi powder or rice vinegar

Serve:

1. In a prepared baking loaf, scoop one cup of sushi rice. Using another piece of saran wrap and push it down using your fingers or use another baking loaf to push it down. 
2. Spread sweetened tuna on top of the rice.
3. Add another cup of sushi rice on tuna. Using wrap, push it down. **see TIPS
4. Spread salmon flakes. Add another cup of rice. Push it down.
5. Spread mushroom. Add another cup of rice and push it down.
6. Finish with sliced eggs on top. 
7. Cut into slices (like meatloaf!) 

 

I ran out of sushi rice (made only 3 cups), so it didn't stay well.

TIPS

• Roll up each egg sheet and cut into strips (it's easier, that way!)
• When pushing it down, you have to push down really tight so it won't fall apart when cutting.

butajiru - super miso soup

Do you feel like having only soup and rice? Then this soup got everything you need to give satisfying feeling. It's basically miso soup, but it's loaded with veggies and meat. Buta means pork ('pig') and jiru means soup, so it's translated to pork soup. :) It's also a great 'extra' dish that's easy to make.

Ingredients:

Carrots - 2 med (thinly sliced)
Potatoes - 2 small (thinly sliced)
Pork meat - 1 cup
Shiitake mushroom - 1/2 cup (thinly sliced)
Onion - 1 small (thinly sliced)
Firm Tofu - 1cup (cubed)
Daikon (raddish) - 1/2 cup (thinly sliced)
Green onion -  2 stalks (chopped)

[Pork marinade]
Salt & white pepper - 1/2 tsp each
Soy sauce - 2 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp

Miso paste - 3 TBS
Water - 3 quarts (5 cups-ish)
Dashi - 2 tsp **see TIPS

Optional addition - 
Gobo (burdock) - 1/2 cup (thinly sliced)
Enoki mushroom - 1/2 bunch (ends cut and washed)
Sweet potato - 1 med (thinly sliced)
Konnyaku (Japanese yam cake) - 1/2 cup (thinly sliced)

Prep:

1. Slice pork and marinade them. Set it aside for 20 minutes.
2. Cut all vegetables in thin slices (julienne)
3. Cube tofu.
4. Chop green onion and set it aside in airtight container.

Cook:

1. Heat water in 4 or 5-quart pot. Add dashi, mushroom and onion. Let it bring to boil.
2. Add in rest of the ingredients, except tofu and konnyaku (if you are adding it). Reduce heat to medium and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Add in Miso paste. Mix well (but not too hard or you'll have mushed potatoes) **see TIPS 
4. Add in tofu and konnyaku at the end and boil for another 5 minutes. Adjust taste. 

Serve:

1. Sprinkle green onion on the soup. Serve with rice. 
2. It also goes well with udon noodle. 

 TIPS

• Some miso paste already comes with dashi inside. In that case, you don't need to add dashi powder. 
• If you are not a big fan of dashi, you can just omit it. It still gives great taste. I will also try to attempt making my own dashi stock someday and post the recipe! [I'm lazy, so I'm not getting around to it yet]
• To avoid getting mushy butajiru,  you can dissolve miso in using ladle - put miso on ladle, get some hot water from the soup and using a spoon or chopstick, dissolve the miso in the ladle.

asparagus roll katsu

Deep-fried food can be challenging, but with this thin cut meat, you don't have to let the food swim in the oil for a long time. If you are looking to add some veggies to your kids' meal, deep fried food is the way to go. I used asparagus this time, but you can also use other ingredients listed under option. 

Ingredients:

Pork tenderloin or pork chop - 1/2 lbs
Asparagus - 8 (cut the end and skinned)

[Basic katsu batter]
Flour - 1 cup
Egg - 2 (beaten lightly)
Breadcrumbs - 1~2 cups

Oil for deep fry

[Optional rollable ingredients]
Carrots (cut into 3 inches, 0.5 cm in diameter) **see TIPS
Enoki mushroom
Gobo(Burdock) - cut same as carrots
Sliced cheese **see TIPS
SPAM or ham - cut the same as carrots

Prep:

1. Pluck the end of the asparagus. Skin them and cut them in half. 
2. Cut about 1cm thick of meat. Prepare 2 saran wrap. Lay the pork in between the two wraps. Using the meat tenderizer, rolling pin or anything you can use to hit the meat. Hit (it's a great way to relieve your stress!) the meat until it gets to 0.3cm to 0.5 cm thick. It will get more pliable as it gets thinner. You should have eight slices of meat.

Cook:

1. On a thinly-hit meat, put one asparagus (which has been cut in half, so two sticks) on one side and roll it up. Repeat until you make 8 rolls.
2. Hold onto the open end as you roll on flour, eggs and breadcrumbs. 
3. Use a stainless steel pot for deep frying. Add in 2 inch thick of oil (can be half-deep fried). The oil is ready when you sprinkle some breadcrumbs in and it bubbles & floats up. 
4. Deep fry one side for about 2 minutes, then flip and deep fry for another 2 minutes or until golden brown. 

Serve:

1. Serve with tonkatsu sauce, mayonnaise, or combination of both. It's also great with sweet Thai chili sauce. 

TIPS

• For veggies like carrots and burdock, cut into 3 inch length, 0.5cm diameter. You can blanch the veggies for 1 minutes and cool before rolling on the meat. 
• Make sure cheese slices fits in the rolls and no excessively coming out of the meat. Cheese and oil are not very good friends. :) 

miso gyudon

Gyudon usually comes with thin sliced beef, but this time I used cubed steak meat, marinated in miso sauce. It's cooked to medium rare so it's like eating steak (with cheaper cut of meat). If you are craving for meat, but got tight budget, this recipe is for you. :) 

Ingredients:

Beef - 1 lbs
Onion - 1 med (sliced)

[Miso marinade]
Miso - 2 TBS
Soy sauce - 2 tsp
Sugar - 2 tsp
Salt & Pepper - 1/2 tsp each
Mirin - 1 TBS
Sake (optional) - 2 tsp

Rice - 2 cups

Prep:

1. Cut beef into cubes (1/2 inch cube). Marinade in a bowl for about an hour.
2. Thin slice onion.
3. Cook rice 

Cook:

1. On a frying pan or wok, heat 1 TBS of olive oil. When it's hot, fry onion until translucent (about 3 minutes). Add in beef and fry for 2 minutes. Flip and fry the other side for another minute or so. 
2. Mix 1 TBS of water in the marinade bowl or bag. Mix well. Pour into the frying pan. 
3. Let it simmer for 2 minutes.

Serve:

• Serve over hot rice. 
• It goes well with grilled veggies or salad 

japanese cream stew

Since my daughter doesn't like the taste of milk, I try to sneak in milk in food. White sauce is the best way to get a lot of milk in. If you have other suggestions for getting milk in the food or snack, please share the recipe with me!

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 breast (cubed)
Carrots - 3 small (cubed)
Potatoes - 2 med (cubed)
Onion - 1 small (cubed)
Broccoli - 1/2 cup (cubed)

[White sauce]
Butter - 6 TBS
Flour - 1/3 cup
Milk - at least 2 cups (or more, depending on your desired consistency)
Salt & Pepper - to taste

Prep: 

1. Cut all veggies. Set aside.
2. Cut chicken breast into cubes. Season with 1tsp of salt and pepper. 

 Cook:

1. In a larger pot or skillet, heat 1 TBS olive oil. Fry onion for 2-3 minutes. 
2. Add in chicken. Fry for another 2-3 minutes. 
3. Add in carrots and potatoes. Fry for 3-5 minutes. Add in little bit of water if it gets dry.
4. [White sauce] In another pot, melt butter. Add in flour. Whisk consistently.
5. Slowly add milk. Whisk consistently and add milk slowly until you get the consistency of the stew.  **see TIPS
6. When you get the consistency you want, add the white sauce with chicken/veggies. Let it simmer for few minutes. Adjust the consistency with milk and taste it according to your liking.

Serve:

1. With rice or pasta. **see TIPS

TIPS

• If you don't like too much milk in the stew, substitute half with chicken stock. 
• If you keep the stew overnight in fridge, you need to add more chicken stock, water or milk when you reheat.