Thursday, January 21, 2016

Naan


Place in a bread machine in this order:


290 ml water

1 T sugar
1 t salt
(2 T milk powder)
1½ T olive oil or butter
450 gm flour (bread flour or all-purpose flour)

Make a small well in the ingredients and pour in:


2 t yeast


Turn on dough cycle. When done, heat pizza stone under the grill in your oven. (Or you can cook it in a frying pan on the stove with a lid, but it doesn't turn out quite as nicely as when done in the oven.)


Using a handful of dough for each naan, press and spread on a lightly floured surface until it is your desired shape, less than 1 cm thick.


Dust pizza stone with a little coarse flour (like whole wheat, graham, or corn meal — whatever you have), and place one or two pieces of naan on it. If your naan has flour on it from being rolled out, that step may not be necessary. The point is, you don't want it to stick to the pizza stone. Grill for 4-5 minutes, until nicely browned on top. 

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Gyoza


You will need:

1 pack gyoza wrappers (30)
150 gm minced meat (I used chicken as it is less fatty than beef or pork, but pork is generally used for gyoza.)
Vegetables
Cornstarch

If you have a food processor, this is very easy to make. You can use whatever mixture of vegetables and meat you like for the filling. These measurements are rough estimates to give you an idea. Finely mince:

¼ head cabbage 
1 carrot
2 shiitake mushrooms
2-3 cloves garlic
½ onion
2-3 green onions (You might want to mince these with a knife so they don't disintegrate in the food processor.)

Put the vegetables in a bowl, and thoroughly mix in:

150 gm minced meat
1 T ginger paste
1½ t cornstarch
1 t sesame oil
(a little salt and pepper)

Lay out the gyoza wrappers and a small dish of water. Put a small spoonful of filling in the center of a wrapper, dip your finger in the water and wet the edge area of half the wrapper, fold it over, and gently squeeze around the edges to seal the half-circle gyoza. Repeat until all the wrappers are filled. 

To cook, heat a little oil in a frying pan, then turn the heat to low. Lay the gyozas in a circle around the edge, overlapping slightly (or line them up in rows if you prefer). Add 2-3 T of boiling water. Cover. Steam until the pan is quiet. Lift the lid and check the bottoms. They should be brown and crunchy. If they aren't cook them a little more. All liquid should be evaporated.

Be sure the gyoza are not stuck to the pan, loosen with a spatula if necessary, and then place a plate over the top of the pan, and turn the gyoza onto the plate.

Serve with individual dishes of sauce, and put out rayu (chili oil) so people can add it to their sauce if they like.

Dipping sauces

A. My favorite:

¼ C soy sauce
¼ C apple cider vinegar (or 3 T rice vinegar)
¼ C freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1-2 T sugar
1 T sesame oil
2 T freshly ground sesame seeds
1 T chopped green onions (negi)

B. Simple

¼ C soy sauce
¼ C rice vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
(chopped green onions)

C. Japanese

3 T soy sauce
2 T sake
1 T mirin
¼ t sesame oil