a couple weekends ago, after making homemade gyoza for the first time, i made another batch of gyoza to freeze and save for a quick weeknight dinner. after making the gyoza, i froze them on a baking sheet overnight. next, i put the gyoza in a gladware container separating each layer with wax paper. then they were ready to be stored in the freezer…
tonight after a long day at a recruitment program i was happy to know that i could come home and quickly and easily heat up some gyoza and cook a pot of rice and a delicious dinner would be ready. we only cooked what we needed for dinner tonight, which was about a third of the batch. so we still have plenty leftover for a couple more quick weeknight dinners. yay!
oh and you do need to adjust the cooking times since the gyoza are frozen. here are the revised directions for cooking frozen gyoza :
- In a large skillet with a tight fitting lid, heat 1 teaspoon of oil over medium-high heat. Carefully place as many of the dumplings that can fit without touching in the skillet with the pleated-wrapper edge up. Cook the dumplings for 5 minutes, or until nicely browned on the bottom. Check the progress by lifting 1 or 2 dumplings by their pleated edge.
- Once the bottoms are nicely browned, use the skillet lid to shield yourself and carefully pour in 1/4 cup of the water. Place the lid on the skillet to trap in the moisture.
- Check the dumplings after 4 minutes. When the wrappers appear slightly translucent and the meat feels firm when pressed lightly with a spoon. Continue to cook until all the water has evaporated and only the oil remains (about 2 minutes).
