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Mushroom and tofu wontons/gyoza with plum sauce recipe

Wontons, gyoza, dumplings, gnocchi, pierogi, every country seems to have a stuffed dumpling recipe. These are sweet and sour and delicious.
Servings: 24

Ingredients

  • 3 tbsp of sesame oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic minced
  • 1 thumb ginger peeled and minced
  • 1 tbsp of sugar
  • 3 tbsp of dark soy sauce
  • 1 tsp of 5 spice
  • 1 tsp of cornflour
  • 1 block firm tofu
  • 4 spring onions the white part, sliced, keep the green part for garnishing
  • 250 g shiitake or other mushrooms sliced finely
  • 1 packet gyoza skins or Chinese wonton skins

Recipe for plum sauce:

  • 10 plums or pluots blanched, skin off, stone out
  • 5 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 small red onion diced
  • 1 thumb fresh ginger peeled with a teaspoon and minced
  • 3 star anise
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 200 ml sherry vinegar

Instructions

For the plum sauce:

  • Make the plum sauce first to get it out of the way. Make a cross on each of the plums with a knife.
  • Boil a kettle of water, pour into a heat proof bowl as soon as boiled and plunge the plums into the bowl. Within a minute the skin should start to unfurl from the crosses and you can get to work taking the skin off. Remove the pits too.
  • Then put all of the ingredients into a medium saucepan and heat until the plums break down a little, say 10 to 15 minutes.
  • Place all the ingredients into a powerful blender such as a Vitamix or use a hand blender and mix at high speed. Taste the sauce to see if it needs anything more - you are looking for a sweet sour zing.
  • Pour the ingredients into a chinois or sieve and let it drip into a bowl overnight. You will end up with a clear syrupy sauce.

For the gyoza:

  • Make the filling. Put all of the ingredients up to the tofu into a hot wok or frying pan and sizzle for a couple of minutes.
  • Strain the tofu of all water and dice it. If the tofu is soft, place it on your hand and cut it on your hand then tip it into the wok. Fry the tofu for five minutes.
  • Add the spring onions and mushrooms. The mushrooms will release a lot of liquid. Fry until the mushrooms seem cooked, for about 3-5 minutes.
  • Prepare a jug or bowl with a sieve or chinoise. Put all the mixture into the sieve and let the excess liquid drain out. You don't want a very liquid filling as the gyoza skins will not hold it.
  • Make a little gyoza filling station on a table. Kids and friends can join in with this and more hands make quick work. Get a small bowl of egg white or a bowl of water (if you are vegan) next to each person. Take a stack of gyoza skins for each person. Put the large bowl of cooled filling in the middle and give each person a teaspoon.
  • Lay out the gyoza skin and dip your finger into the egg white or water, run it around the border of the gyoza/pot sticker/chinese dumpling/wonton skin. Put a heaped teaspoon of filling into the middle then seal the gyoza according to the pictures below. You want four folds on one side, which creates a crescent shaped dumpling.
  • Store them on a tray sprinkled generously with white flour, rice or wheat, so that they won't stick to the bottom when you remove them to steam.
  • Boil a kettle. On a medium to low heat, place a non-stick or well seasoned cast iron frying pan with a lid and add a little vegetable or groundnut oil. When the oil is hot, place the gyoza carefully into the pan, making sure they don't touch, and fry the bottoms until golden, 3 to 5 minutes, then add a couple of centimetres (an inch) of boiling water from the kettle. Stand back as this may splatter a little. Put the lid on. Then steam for 5 minutes or so. Using a fish slice, remove the gyoza and add a few more drops of oil, start the next batch. continue until you have finished all the filled gyoza.
  • Serve them hot with the reserved green part of the spring onion and the plum dipping sauce.