Koroke Vail Style

Today's koroke are a bit of a fantasy, I admit. The reason why I came up with this, was that I had some leftovers of the gyouza filling, and I needed to get rid of it.
If you want to know about Japanese Koroke; there are several different versions, but most are either with potato or with a kind of béchamel sauce. My koroke are based on potatoes, mashed and mixed with the gyouza filling, which consists of chinese cabbage, carrot, ginger and pork mince, seasoned with soy sauce and pepper. I peeled and boiled the potatoes, then mashed them (I use a fork because prefer to not have real puree, but still small bits of potato in it). Added the gyouza filling, 1 egg and some flour, seasoned with salt and pepper. Formed the koroke (I chose a more oblong shape), then coated them with flour, egg, and panko. They should be fried in a frying pan with a bit more of oil, but not too hot, or else the breadcrumbs will become black too quickly. (7 on my electric stove)
Tonkatsu sauce goes well with the koroke, but they are fine with ketchup, too. Or simply natural.


~Vail~

Gyouza

I had a friend coming over for lunch today, and I had planned to make japanese fried gyouza, starting from scratch. I found a recipe for the dough, so I didn't have to bother to actually get my lazy ass up and move it to the asia store ;)
This actually is quite time-consuming, so if you're in a hurry, you better buy the gyouza pastry. If you feel like spending a whole morning in the kitchen, this is the right recipe for you!

I found the recipe for the pastry here

I doubled the recipe as I planned to make a bigger amount and put the other half into the freezer.

You need: (about 60-65 pieces)

* 500g flour
* 200ml water
* 10 drops of Kansui (I didn't have Kansui at home, so I replaced it with 1 tsp baking soda dissolved in a little bit of water)
* 2 eggs
* 1tsp salt

With a whisk, beat the eggs with 100ml of water and Kansui. Add the salt. Pour it into a bowl with the flour and knead, while adding the rest of the water . Knead well until you get a nice dough. Cover it and let it rest for 1/2 hour.

Roll it out, take a drinking glass (∅8cm) and prick out the circles from the dough until nothing is left. (picture top left)

For the filling, you need:

* 200g white cabbage
* 2 carrots
* 1 tbsp japanese pickled ginger
* 400g pork mince
* soy sauce
* salt

Shred the cabbage and the carrots (works fine with a food processor). Heat some oil in a pan and fry the vegetables for a few minutes, reduce heat a little and cover it. Let it rest until soft, then add the ginger. Season with soy sauce.

Once it's ready, put it away and let it cool down. Salt the mince, then mix well with the vegetables. Now comes the hard work: take 1 tsp of the filling and put it in the middle of your small circle, brush some water along the edges and fold the sides up. Press together and make small foldings. Repeat this step with every circle until you're done.

In a pan, heat some oil and fry one side of the gyouza until brown, then add 50 ml of water. Cover the pan quickly and wait until the water has evaporated. In another step, add some more oil and fry the steamed gyouza on both sides so that they become brown and crispy. Serve hot with raw cabbage and soy sauce. Enjoy!

Vail's Note: This was my first time ever trying to make gyouza, and even though the recipe is not authentic, they tasted nice. I renounced garlic, or whatever it is they put inside *laughs* but you can basically fill these small turnovers with everything you like. Also, for the dip, I dissolved a bit of dashi in hot water and added soy sauce as well as 3 drops of sesame oil. The cabbage is optional too. I just prefer to always have some vegetable side dishes ;)

~Vail~