Spend some time in the kitchen this long weekend making Rosa Matto’s delectable dumplings.

Recipe Rosa Matto | Photograph Brendan Homan | Styling Natalie Homan

Spinach and prawn gyoza
Makes 24-30

pastry
120g frozen spinach, squeezed dry, or make a puree from ½ bunch cooked spinach
250g plain flour
½ tsp salt
125ml boiling water
30g cornflour for dusting the bench

Combine the spinach, plain flour and salt in a food processor. Gradually add the boiling water until dough is smooth and shiny. Cut the dough in two. Wrap up in plastic wrap and allow to rest for 30 minutes or so while you make the filling.

filling
90g Chinese cabbage, very thinly shredded
90g baby spinach, very thinly shredded
1 tsp salt
300g cooked prawn meat
30g dried wood ear mushrooms, soaked for 15 minutes
1 spring onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
shichimi togarashi (chilli and spice powder)

dipping sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp mirin
nigella seeds
sesame seeds
Chilli oil (made by mixing shichimi togarashi with sesame oil)

Sprinkle the shredded cabbage and spinach with salt and set aside for 15 minutes. Chop the cooked prawn and shred the drained wood ear mushrooms. Combine with spring onion, garlic, ginger, soy and sesame. Squeeze the cabbage as tightly as you can and add to the mixture. Season with shichimi and taste. Set aside.

Cut each of the pastry halves into 12 pieces. Dust the bench and rolling pin with a little cornflour. Roll each piece very thinly and cut out into circles using an 8cm cutter. I put the dough through a pasta machine to achieve a fine, thin even dough sheet before I cut them out, but you may be able to roll the pastry paper thin using just a rolling pin. 

You can reroll and cut all the extra dough into extra circles. Dust the wrappers with cornflour before stacking them up. 

Take each circle and put a heaped teaspoon of filling in the centre. Brush the edge of half the wrapper with cold water. Pinch the edges together to make a neat semi-circle. Now, starting in the middle, pleat the edge by folding over the sealed edge towards one end. Do the other side. You should have 4 evenly spaced pleats. 

Steam for 5-6 minutes. Or, if you’d like a crispy bottom, place a frypan over heat, add 2 teaspoons sesame oil and arrange all the gyoza in the pan. Add 1 cup of water and cover with a lid. Cook on high heat for 6 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for another minute for the bottoms to go crispy. 

To make the dipping sauce, simply combine all the ingredients to your liking. 

 

This recipe first appeared in the May 2018 issue of SALIFE.