Here’s something quick and interesting that we recently made, which is perfect for a day when you want something fun and tasty without a ton of effort. We came across this recipe in Bon Appétit and decided we could easily make it vegetarian, so we cooked it up for ourselves. It was just a quick trip to Sunrise Mart to get the gyoza, and then everything else was something we sourced from our local grocery store. There’s a wide array of ingredients here, and you might wonder about how well they go together, but the end result is a tasty meatless dinner with influences from all over the world.
To make this, you’ll need:
- Plain Greek yogurt
- Garlic
- Pine nuts
- Olive oil
- Butter
- 2 12-packs of frozen vegetable gyoza
- Smoked paprika
- Cumin
- Chili powder
- A bunch of kale
- Mint
First you’ll want to cook your gyoza: take a large cast iron skillet and add in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Warm over medium heat and add in all of the gyoza, making sure they don’t overlap. Pour in 3 tablespoons of water, cover the pan tightly, and cook for about 3 minutes, until each gyoza is brown on the side that’s touching the pan.
Set the gyoza aside, and in the same pan melt 4 tablespoons of butter over low heat. Add in a teaspoon of chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, 1/4 teaspoon of smoked paprika, and a pinch of salt and mix into the butter by swirling the pan around. Pour half the butter into a separate container, then tear your kale into bite-sized leaves. Place the kale in the remaining butter in the pan, along with 2 tablespoons of water and some more salt, and stir around in the pan until the kale is wilted, then take the pan off the heat.
Finally, measure out 2 tablespoons of pine nuts into a small skillet and toast over medium heat, stirring around every so often, for just 3 minutes, until they’re browned. While you’re waiting, grate 2 garlic cloves into 1 cup of Greek yogurt, and mix together along with a pinch of salt. Spread the yogurt out into the bottom of a platter, and place the gyoza in.
Scatter the kale on top, along with some mint leaves and the pine nuts. Drizzle the spiced butter over everything.
Now you can scoop up individual servings to eat.
There’s a lot of really cool flavors going on in this dish – you’ve got veggie dumplings, in the form of the gyoza, sitting on a creamy base, topped with wilted greens, some herbs, some toasty nuts, and a spiced butter sauce bringing everything together. On paper it might not sounds like all these things would work well combined, but they do – the greens balance out the rich yogurt sauce, the pine nuts bring in some crunch, the spices and herbs give flavor to every other element in this dish, and it all serves as a great accompaniment to the veggie-stuffed gyoza. It’s an interesting way to serve gyoza, and one that you probably wouldn’t see on a typical Japanese menu, but it was a tasty dinner – and most importantly, it was pretty easy to whip up on a weekday night. What’s not to love about a simple, unique and tasty way to try some dumplings?