Gluten-Free Konbu Snacks

I don't know about you, but I love savory snacks. I just don't like indulging too much on unhealthy ones like potato chips. So when someone mentioned these to me, I couldn't wait to try these out.

We were having a conversation about Konbu, which is dried seaweed. Konbu is usually used to make soup stocks or "dashi" and is essential in Japanese cooking. It's also used in other savory dishes but I've never heard of snacking on them. The great thing about these is that they are a naturally gluten-free snack that's delicious and healthy.

What's better is the ingredient list. You only need konbu and oil. That's it. Nothing else. And the oil is for deep frying them so if you don't count that, it's really just one ingredient. It doesn't get any easier than this.

 

DIRECTIONS: 

Wipe surface of konbu strips with damp paper towel. Fry in heated oil for 3-4 minutes until crispy. Drain on paper towels. ENJOY!

Don't forget to check out our VIDEO TUTORIAL by clicking HERE. You'll see exactly how to make these easy yet wonderfully crispy and savory snacks.

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Another post should be up this weekend. Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

My Mother's Gyoza Recipe

When I was a kid, my mother used to cook for us now and then. She had a full-time job so she really didn't have the time to cook for us all the time. But when she did, she was nice enough to ask us what we wanted and one thing that I'd request over and over again is this.

Gyoza is and always has been a favorite of mine. I can eat them until I'm am stuffed senseless. I love them so much! What is it about potstickers? The fun and joy I get of popping them into my mouth one after another? Or the juicy meat and veggie filling that's all wrapped up like a bundle of joy? All I know is that I love Gyoza and I probably will until the day I die.

There are many ways to make Gyoza but this is how my mother made it for me. Oh, I'm also going to teach you how to make those wrappers. Yep handmade gyoza wrappers. Now that's something my mother didn't do.

Here's my mother's recipe for making homemade gyoza. Try it out and see if you agree with me that these are the best you've tasted! Make sure to watch my video tutorial for gyoza. Just click here.  Subscribe HERE for weekly videos!

Ingredients: Makes 15-16 gyoza dumplings

200 grams ground meat ( pork or pork and beef mix recommended )
1/8 chinese cabbage（use the hard insides）
1 large bunch chives
1/4 medium white onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 knob ginger, minced
1 teaspoon salt,
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon pepper
15-16 gyoza wrappers
cooking oil
sesame oil
1/3 cup water

Gyoza sauce

Equal parts soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil or chili oil

Instructions:

Microwave chinese cabbage for 3 minutes. Remove excess water with paper towel. Chop into fine pieces. Set aside in a bowl.
Chop onions, chives, ginger and garlic. Add to the bowl.
Add ground meat to the bowl. Add sugar, cornstarch, salt, pepper.
Mix and knead with your hand for a good 2 minutes until well combined.
Put less than 1 tablespoon of mixture in the center of gyoza wrapper.
Fold the wrapper in half. Crease and fold to enclose the meat in the wrapper. Continue until done.
Put some oil in a frying pan. Arrange gyoza in the pan. Heat over meduim heat until the bottom is nicely browned.
Add water and immediately cover to steam for 10 minutes.
Remove cover and continue to cook over meduim low heat until water evaporates.
Add sesame oil in the center of the frying pan. Tilt pan to spread the oil around.
Serve hot with gyoza sauce.

Homemade Gyoza Wrappers

HOME MADE GYOZA SKINS VIDEO TUTORIAL

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (100 grams) bread flour

1/2 cup (100 grams) all-purpose flour

*You can use 1 cup all-purpose flour in place of the flour blend. 

1/3 cup water (100 cc

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In a small bowl, conbine water and salt.

In a large bowl, add flour and watermixture.

Mix with a spatula and bring the dough together with hands. 

Transfer to a floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes. 

Cut dough into two pieces. Roll then out into a sausage shape. 

Cut into 1-inch ( 2 cm ) pieces. 

Flatten with your palm. Roll out from center outwards while rotating wrapper with a rolling pin.

Cut out round shapes with a cookie cutter. Continue with the remainder of the flour mixture. 

I hope you enjoyed this post. Please feel free to leave a comment down below and if you want to try and make these, it's advisable to watch the video tutorials. Wrapping them up does that a bit of practice and videos always make it easier. 

Watch the videos here:

Gyoza Tutorial

Gyoza Wrapper Tutorial

Recipe Video Playlist

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How to Make Japanese Curry Rice

Everybody loves Japanese Curry Rice and we're no different. In fact, it's stands side-by-side with ramen in terms of what we call soul food here in Japan. I really can't think of a single person I know or heard of that didn't like a plate of good and hearty curry.

Sure one can go through the trouble of making it from scratch, but many prefer to use the boxed roux that are sold in stores. There are so many different brands with various spice levels ( I love spicy! ) but they all taste good and it's hard to do better than these boxed curry sauce mix. I promise to teach you how to make it from scratch in a later post.

Japanese Curry usually consists of some kind of meat along with potatoes, onions and carrots. Once you master this combo, you can go ahead and experiment with your favorite ingredients. I personally love beef and mushrooms but today I'm going to go with the most basic.

Now I do add one extra step that's not found on any boxes and it really makes a difference in taste. I basically sautee one onion until they are transluscent before doing anything else. This makes the taste deeper and adds a very pleasant sweetness to the sauce. Sure it's easier to just dump everything in at once, but trust me. It's better this way.

Directions:

Follow the directions on the box of your Curry Sauce Mix. The typical ingredients are potatoes, carrots, onions and meat. Here are some extra steps to make it extra tasty.

*Saute 1 onion (minced) until transluscent before adding the rest of the ingredients.
*Add a little salt and pepper to your meat while cooking.

Once done, serve with some hot rice and enjoy!

Watch the video tutorial on our YouTube Channel. You'll see just how easy it is to do. 

We used the super popular Vermont Curry but use your favorite brand of Curry Sauce Mix. For more recipe tutorials, click here.

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