I made these Japanese potstickers "Gyoza" for a dinner potluck on Friday. They were a hit! Great for a casual appetizer. They are savoury, easy to eat and will open up your guests' appetite for the upcoming meal.

I've posted a recipe here in the past but the ingredients I used this time are much simpler & easy.
Vegetarians! Keep in mind you can also make these without meat.

Ingredients (makes around 25-30 potstickers):

• Gyoza wrappers (you can buy them at a Japanese supermarket or an asian one. I've seen them in Wholefoods here in SF)
• 1/3 minced meat (I used turkey, I also recommend chicken or pork)
• Chinese Chives (I bought these also at the Japanese supermarket), if you don't have them, use spring onions
• (optional) Any other greens you like, like cabbage
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1/2 - 1 tbsp grated garlic
• 1 tbsp each of Japanese soy sauce, sake, sesame oil

Steps: 
Please follow the steps on this recipe, I've provided step by step photos! 
Just make sure to pan fry them right before you are ready to eat them!

Long time no see!
I'm back! 

Holiday season is here. 
My boyfriend and I have been to multiple potlucks this month....So, introducing the Holiday Potluck series! I will share with you what I have been making this busy season. Of course, all of these recipes are EASY, FAST and HEALTHY.

The first recipe I'm sharing: Super soft mochi-like potato pancakes on turkey bacon.
The potatoes are cooked in butter and have a little bit of mozzarella cheese in them. Sweet but salty, perfect as an appetizer!

Things you need:
- 1 medium sized potato
- 4 slices of turkey bacon, cut into bit sized pieces
- 1/2 - 1 tbsp of unsalted butter
- As much cheese as you want (I used shredded mozzarella)
- Potato starch (3-4 tbsp), or until the potato paste becomes dough-like.
- (Optional) Sprinkles of basil for decoration

Steps:

1. Peel and cut the potato into bite sized pieces and boil until super soft (you can also microwave them).
2. While you're boiling the potatoes, you can start cooking the bacon and cut them into pieces afterwards.
3. Once they are soft, start mashing them up, until it becomes super smooth.
4. Add potato starch (optionally, cheese, salt & pepper)
5. Keep massaging the potato paste. Once it becomes like dough, start separating them into small flat balls.
6. Heat your pan with butter (medium to high heat)
7. Once the pan is hot enough, cook the patties! We want them nice and brown.
8. Place on top of the bacon & sprinkle some greens.

As always, the most popular recipe on this blog! I served it to my guests the other night and everyone loved it.

Click here for the recipe!

How simple can it be?

Really.

All I used was:

1. 1/2 Avocado
2. Dash of Olive Oil
3. Dash of Salt
4. Some crushed cashews
5. Dash of Lime

I've heard many of my girl friends talk about this dish here in San Francisco. Some say it's great with a drizzle of honey. Some like to add dried berries. The best thing about this dish is that it's customizable! 

Tell me more about your customization if you have any :) 

Who likes Empanadas?
Who likes Gyozas?

Who wants to hear about a fun, delicious twist on a gyoza? 

Most of us who access this blog love curry (I hope). Especially Japanese Curry.


Today, I decided to wrap up Keema curry in the Japanese Gyoza dumpling wrappers!  

Why, you ask? Because, I was craving for a snack somewhat similar to an Empanada. Unfortunately, it's very hard to find frozen Empanadas here in Japan, but dumpling wrappers are very cheap! 

These delicious dumplings were super crunchy and crispy on the outside. The curry inside and the wrapper itself matched perfectly too. Pairs great with wine or beer. Great appetizer or finger food for parties! 

Keema curry, for those of you who have not tried it yet, is basically stir fried minced meat with curry spices. It's not runny  like the traditional Japanese curry. It's more like paste. That's why I thought it would be a great idea to wrap it up with Gyoza wrappers! 

I bought the ready-made Keema curry but I plan to post a recipe for it soon as the ready-made kind may be hard to find in the US....If you cannot find the ready-made curry but want to try this a.s.a.p, I highly recommend for you to cook some minced meat and add some salt, pepper, curry spice and maybe even some cumin? 


Steps

1. Once you have the curry cooked and ready, wrap a teaspoon of it in a Gyoza dumpling wrapper. You can use other dumpling wrappers or even some pie dough!
   If you're wondering how to wrap a gyoza dumpling, check this recipe out 
2. Heat the oven at 200C (370F) and place the dumplings in for 10-15 minutes until gold and crispy.

That's it. If you decide to use ready-made curry/meat like me, it takes less than 20 minutes. 15 minutes of it is just waiting for it to cook in the oven...

Enjoy!