Gyoza

One of my all time favorite foods. It's usually served as an appetizer but makes a good entree too. There are a lot of different ways to prepare gyoza (aka potstickers), so you can adjust the recipe to suit your tastes.

1 package won ton wrappers*
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cups chopped cabbage
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup chopped carrot
1/2 pound ground pork
1 egg
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup water

Heat sesame oil and soy sauce in a large skillet over medium high heat. Mix in cabbage, onion, garlic and carrot. Cook and stir until cabbage is limp. Mix in ground pork and egg. Cook until pork is evenly brown and egg is no longer runny. The filling can be a little bland, so salt, pepper, garlic powder, ginger, etc. to taste.

Place approximately 1 tablespoon of the cabbage and pork mixture in the center of each wrapper. Fold wrappers in half over filling, and seal edges with moistened fingers.*

Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook gyoza approximately 1 minute per side, until lightly browned.* Pour water into skillet and reduce heat. Cover and allow gyoza to steam until the water is gone.

Mix 1/4 cup soy sauce and 2 tablespoons rice vinegar for dipping sauce*. Serve with hot rice.

*Kayla's Notes

-You can find won ton wrappers in just about any grocery store in the refrigerated section. It always takes me like 20 minutes to find them, so just keep looking. They're there, I promise!

-I like my filling pretty minced, so I usually throw everything in the blender for a few pulses after cooking. It makes filling the wrappers easier since you don't have large chunks of pork or vegetables getting in the way.

-The filling does well in the fridge for a few days (probably in the freezer as well). Filling and sealing the wrappers is a little time consuming when you do the whole shebang, so we like to fill just as many as we need for that meal and throw the rest in the fridge. It's pretty quick to fill 5 or 6 at lunchtime the next day and it makes for easy leftovers.

-If you're one of those weirdos who likes their gyoza deep fried instead of steamed (I won't judge), just add a little more oil to the pan and fry. Use a slotted spoon to remove and forget about the water step.

-You can buy gyoza dipping sauce in the international foods sections of all our local grocery stores. We usually like it better than the homemade stuff and it tends to be pretty strong, so a little goes a long way.

Cashew Chicken

One of our favorite easy meals! If you've eaten at our house, we've probably served this to you. It barely serves four though, so if you have a bigger family, want leftovers, or are entertaining more people, you might want to double the recipe.

1 1/3 lbs chicken breasts
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 rice wine (sake, mirin)*
5 green onions
1 piece ginger (3/4 inch)*
2/3 cup cashews (or walnuts, if you prefer [I don't])
1/4 cup olive oil
3-4 tablespoons soy sauce

Cut chicken into 3/4 inch cubes. Stir cornstarch into 2 tablespoons of the rice wine and mix well with chicken cubes (we throw it all in a freezer ziplock and let it sit while we chop everything else).

Remove root ends and any dark green or wilted parts from the green onions and rinse. Cut into 3/4 inch lengths. Peel ginger, slice thinly, and then slice into matchsticks. Break cashews into small pieces or chop coarsely.

Heat oil in a wok or pan, add cashews, and stir fry for a minute or 2 until they start to turn brown. Remove and set aside. Add chicken to the pan and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add onions and ginger and stir-fry for another minute. Combine remaining rice wine, soy sauce, and about 1/3 cup water and add to chicken along with cashews. Stir-fry for another minute, make sure chicken is cooked through and serve. Great with sticky rice.

*Kayla's Notes:

-You can find rice wine and good sticky rice (Aaron is a total rice snob, so only the real good stuff will do at our house) at Lee Lee's. If you don't feel like making the effort, regular white wine or cooking wine works just fine and I can't really tell the difference in taste.

-When I gave my sister this recipe the concept of ginger in plant form as opposed to powdered form was totally alien. So, just in case you read that and went "...3/4 inch?" You can find ginger root everywhere (including Fry's and WalMart) in the vegetable section. It's quite cheap and you really don't need much at all for this recipe.

-I use my onion chopper to quickly chop the cashews. Also, they burn real quick, so keep an eye on them while stir-frying! A slotted spoon works well for putting them aside while stir-frying everything else.

-I like to let the whole thing simmer for a bit at the end. I usually mix a little more cornstarch in some water and add it right at the end to thicken it up, otherwise it tends to be a bit watery.

Thanks to Bethany S for the invite! This is such a great idea and I'm really excited about trying some of these recipes and sharing my good ones!

Oriental Chicken Tenders

-This recipe comes from my mother-in-law. I always feel like I'm cheating using frozen chicken tenders, but it makes the recipe SO much faster!

Ingredients: 2 pounds frozen, precooked, breaded chicken tenders
Pineapple chunks (optional)
1 Bell pepper, diced (optional)
Sweet and Sour sauce (below)

Turn oven to 350 degrees. Spread frozen tenders in 9X13 casserole pan and heat in oven till thawed and hot. Meanwhile combine sauce ingredients (below) in saucepan on medium heat until smooth and thickened. Pull thawed chicken tenders out of the oven, top with pineapple chunks and peppers, then pour sauce over everything. Bake 10 minutes, then stir and bake 10 more minutes. Serve over rice.

Sauce:
3/4 c. sugar
3 Tblsp. Catsup
1Tblsp. Soy Sauce
1/4 c. pineapple juice
1/2 c. red wine vinegar
1/2 t. salt
1 Tblsp. cornstarch dissolved in a little water

(by Janell)