Thursday 11 March 2010

Exciting New Beginnings



The New Year brought a lovely new home, but a lot of stress moving in and unpacking everything. My extensive range of kitchen equipment had to be quickly stored in an orderly fashion, where I could easily find even the smallest dish, ready for my workshops, courses and catering assignments.
Welcome to my new blog, which links to my website www.yukiskitchen.com. I hope to write my thoughts of life in London, including recipes, and restaurant reviews. I love food and think about it all the time, planning the next meal or a new workshop. I have also been asked to write about European food for a monthly Japanese magazine circulated in Europe, so I may include some western recipes too.
No sooner had we moved in than the weather turned very cold and there was so much snow that I preferred to stay in and cook comforting dishes to warm us up.

One of my family’s favourite winter dishes is Gyoza Soup and I make no apologies for including it here in March, because although the sun is shining out of a clear blue sky, and the daffodils are starting to bloom, it is still very cold and spring is not quite here.


Gyoza Soup

Ingredients (serves 4)

Gyoza skins, 1 pack, usually 20 – 25 in a pack

Filling for Gyoza (dumplings)

A)
200g minced pork, chicken or turkey
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sake
1 tsp sesame oil
A pinch of pepper

B)

1/2 leek (chopped)
4 spring onions (chopped)
1 tsp garlic (chopped)
1 tsp ginger (ground)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce

Soup

600mls water
3 tbsps sake
2 tbsps soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1/4 tsp Salt`
a pinch of black pepper
Garnish
Chopped spring onion


Method
Put the minced pork, sake, salt, pepper, sesame oil and vegetable oil into a bowl mixing together very well with your hands until you have a sticky, shiny mixture.
Wash and slice the leek very thinly and chop the spring onions into thin rounds.
Add to the meat mixture with the remaining ingredients (B) and mix well.
Stuff the gyoza with a teaspoon of the mixture. Brush the inside edge with cold water and fold in half, pleating them as you go or just leave them plain.
Freeze any you are not using this time.



Pour the water into a pot and bring to the boil. Add sake, soy sauce, mirin, salt, and pepper. Add the gyoza and simmer for 8 minutes.
Garnish with finely chopped green onion.


2 comments:

  1. Love the look of the gyoza, can't wait to make some.

    ReplyDelete