Songs: Side A of White Winds
Artist: Andreas Vollenweider
I took my mother shopping for the ingredients for Gyoza
(Known in America as 'Potstickers').
However...
I wanted to make hundreds so my mother could freeze them
and eat them over the next few months.
If you have only had Gyoza in restaurants...
I'll bet you have never eaten excellent Gyoza.
I shall give you the recipe to make 5 lbs of Pork Gyoza
(just the weight of the meat alone).
As Ground pork is typically sold in one pound packages...
the recipe will be easy to adjust.
My wife modified this recipe from an Internet recipe
My mother had always used beef before.
The ingredients:
Sake
Sesame Oil
Soy Sauce
Salt and Pepper
Won Ton Wraps
(or Gyoza Wraps)
5 lbs of Ground Pork
Mustard
Ground Garlic Paste
Ground Ginger Paste
One head of Cabbage
3 Medium White Onions
2 bunches of Green Onions
I estimated that we had made about 400 individual Gyoza
over our 12 hours of total prep and cooking time
(over two days).
I had to go shopping for more wraps on the second day of cooking.
We ended up using 8 packages of wraps.
My mother did all the vegetable prep...
we both made the dumplings...
and I did all of the cooking.
You will need an extra large mixing bowl.
You will be dicing all of the vegetables.
Then add all of the meat.
You will be adding 10 tablespoons of each:
Soy Sauce
Sake
Sesame Oil
Add salt and pepper
Just a light dusting of each on the surface will do.
As the soy sauce is already salty...
you may omit salt completely...
and even the pepper is not necessary.
Add a 3" ribbon of each:
Garlic
Ginger
Mix together well
You will then start filling the won Ton wrappers...
sealing the edges with water...
and folding them over.
After we had made these Gyoza...
I started cooking them while my mother continued filling them.
At first...
I was using two covered pans...
but the left lid had a hole built in...
and this let the steam escape...
and led to burned Gyoza.
After I got burned Gyoza from this pan...
I switched to using just the large pan
(the glass cover is solid across the surface).
I will go into the cooking method used...
and the cooking time, later in the article.
The 'Reno Red Hots' were ready.
My mother loved them...
as did I.
By the end of the second day...
I had to make more 'Reno Red Hots'...
as we had eaten all of this batch.
After the first batch done...
my mother and I ate while the next batch was cooking.
The Gyoza sauce is made in many different ways...
however...
this is my favored sauce:
Mustard
Soy Sauce
We then started eating.
I do not use any oil.
I steam fry them.
After you put in the layer of Gyoza...
add water to about half the depth of the Gyoza.
The heat should be on medium high.
Cover the pan...
and let the water boil.
When the water is gone (approx. 15 minutes)...
the Gyoza are ready.
Do not lift the lid during cooking...
do not turn over the dumplings.
The dumplings are cooked by the steam...
and are only slightly browned on the bottom.
I placed a meal's worth in a pyrex container and placed it in the fridge.
The rest of the Gyoza we would not eat on this night...
I placed into gallon sized freezer bags.
Our last batch for the night.
Our first session lasted approximately 6 hours.
On the morrow...
we cooked another 6 hours.
My mother's comforter robe.
Buying warm clothing instead of heating the house above 68 degrees
is far more healthful for people in Winter.
Why?
In Winter...
the cold air is already dry...
as cold air cannot hold the amount of moisture warm air can.
Now...
if you use a heater (without a humidifier)...
the already arid air is warmed...
and as warmer air may hold more moisture...
it then rapidly absorbs moisture from the mucus membranes...
from our noses and sinuses especially.
Our nose's chief defense from the viruses already present in them...
is the moisture barrier in the mucus membranes.
When these dry out...
viruses more easily penetrate them...
and we become infected.
I departed my mother's home in the wee hours of the morning.
I would be back to finish our cooking session later on this day.
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