Vegan Crispy Wing Gyoza

Directions

• Prepare Filling. Place dried shiitake mushrooms and dried black fungi in a bowl. Add boiling hot water and soak for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, you can prepare all vegetables as instructed. After 15 minutes, take out the mushrooms and black fungus and cut as instructed.
• Fry the Filling. In a large pan or wok, heat up vegetable oil on medium heat. Start the sauté by frying ginger and garlic until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Then add the yellow onions and fry until translucent and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Follow with carrots, shiitake mushrooms, black fungus, scallions, and continue to fry a little bit before deglazing with soy sauce. Season with salt, mushroom bouillon, white pepper, and a drizzle of sesame oil. Taste to adjust seasoning and optionally, finish by sprinkling on some cornstarch. Note: Cornstarch gives the filling more body and helps soak up excess moisture. I always add it if there are vegetables in the filling with high water content like cabbage. For this recipe, you can choose to omit it. Place finished filling in the refrigerator to chill before wrapping.
• Fold the Dumplings. There are many ways to fold gyoza dumplings, my preferred method is as follows: 1) Place about 1 teaspoon of packed filling in the center of the wrapper. 2) Wet one finger with water and use it to wet the outer circle of the wrapper. If you’re using store-bought wrappers, make sure to use enough water as those wrappers tend to be drier. 3) Fold the wrapper in half over the filling, and crimp only the very top center. 4) Starting from one side (I tend to do the right side first as I am right-handed), start making pleats towards the middle, about 3-4 pleats. 5) Take the other side and pleat it towards the middle as well, making sure that the first pleat on either sides overlap. 6) Now the dumpling should have naturally fallen into a crescent moon shape. Shape it a little more as needed. Place completed dumplings on parchment paper and loosely cover them while you prepare the rest. If you are not cooking them immediately, see notes for freezing instructions.
• Prepare Slurry (for crispy wings). In a bowl, whisk together water, flour, cornstarch, vinegar, and a pinch of salt. Whisk until just combined and set aside.
• Fry the Dumplings. In a small non-stick pan, heat up about 1 tablespoons of vegetable oil on medium-high heat. Note: oil in the pan is essential for thin & crispy wings — don’t skimp on this! Arrange dumplings in the pan in a spiral (I usually go for 6-8 at a time) and fry until their bottoms are lightly browned, around 1-2 minutes. Then, add your prepared slurry, quickly cover with a lid, and cook for 4-5 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes, or until the wing/lattice becomes lightly golden and crispy. Use a spatula to check if all the edges are released and if they are, place an inverted plate over and flip the whole pan over. Serve warm with dipping sauce as well as la-yu (Japanese chili oil). I also like it with Chinese-style chili oil (homemade recipe HERE).