Experiment Going On - Hanetsuki Gyoza -

Well, the quest for the potstickers with hane (wing) has been quietly going on, and today I can proudly show you my progress. This was my previous attempt. And now I can make a bigger and crispier hane like this !! Maybe you think “what’s such a big deal about the so-called hane with potstickers.” Oh, it’s just a Japanese thing. I don’t remember how it started, but hane-tsuki gyoza (potstickers with wing) is treated like something better than regular potstickers in Japan these days. And actually, eating the crispy hane with juicy gyoza is really really wonderful, let me tell ya. The secret of my success this time was using both flour and potato starch. Last time I mixed potato starch with water and poured into the frying pan when the gyoza were almost done. This time I used both flour and potato starch, poured in the mixture earlier, then covered with lid and heated for a few minutes. When almost done, I removed the cover and turned the heat to high to let the water evaporate. It worked. When the hane turned golden brown, I scraped off the gyoza altogether with hane and put on a plate with hane-side up. Yes, that’s the way it should be served. Seriously. I’m not kidding. ---------- OK, I’m going to add some details here. Now I have to make a confession ;P The ones in the photo are store-bought chilled gyoza. This is how it actually went: I made some gyoza from scratch for lunch and experimented on the hane part, but it didn’t turn out well. So I bought some chilled gyoza for supper and worked on the hane again, then got the result as shown in the photo:D For my hand-made gyoza, I used some beansprouts (microwaved and chopped), ground meat, minced leek and ginger, seasoned with salt, pepper, sake, oyster sauce and soy sauce. Sorry I don’t remember how much of each. I got the idea of using beansprounts in place of cabbage from a TV show, but it didn’t taste as good as I expected. For the successful hane, I mixed 2/3 teasp. flour, 1/2 teasp. potato starch and apx. 50cc water. I heated some veg. oil in a frying pan and placed the gyoza to slightly brown the bottom, but kept the heat rather low. Then I poured in the mixture, lifted up each gyoza a little to bring the starchy mixture underneath, and covered with lid, still keeping the heat rather low. After heating for axp. 3 to 4 min., I opened the lid and turned the heat up. I needed to keep moving the frying pan on the heat so that the hane browns evenly. When the hane looked dried enough, I poured in a little veg. oil. It’s supposed to bring up the temperature, add crunchiness to hane and at the same time detach the hane from the pan. I got this idea from some websites. So, folks, next time I’ll work on the filling some more and make my special hanetsuki gyoza!