No.13 Gyoza

Gyoza is the flavour of my home.

The “gyoza” or potsticker is one of the dishes that my whole family loves and cooks well frequently. Gyoza is originally Chinese food, but it is also cooked in Japananese style.Therefore, it can be said that it is one of the standard homemade dishes in Japan. The ingredients of gyoza are very simple. We generally use cabbage, leeks, and minced pork. Of course, the gyoza’s skin is necessary. Chop the vegetables and mix them with the ground meat to make the filling. Then add the seasoning to it. What you put here determines the flavor of your gyoza. Wrap the filling with gyoza skin and press the edges of the dough firmly and make a half-moon shape with a length of 4 or 5 cm. Fry gyoza in a skillet with sesame oil. When the dough is golden brown, the gyoza will be ready to eat. I think it’s better to eat gyoza soon while it is hot.

One news that recently caught my attention is the ranking of consumer cities in Gyoza. According to a household survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the city of Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture ranked first in the total purchase price of gyoza by a family in the year2020, which was 3,766 yen. The second place is the city of Utsunomiya in Tochigi Prefecture, and the total purchase price of gyoza by a family was 3,693 yen. These values are the quantity that each family buys gyoza in the store, so it seems that they do not include gyoza that are made at home. It is said that the cities at the top of this ranking will make efforts to improve the consumption of gyoza to reach the first place.

I think the reason everyone likes gyoza like this is because it is healthy, cheap and goes well with alcohol. This is common not only in Japan, but around the world.

Anyway gyoza is gradually becoming a national dish.