Dishes that never quite made it…. Gyoza – Skin Deep

Making your own skins

There are several ways to create the desired round shape. One technique is to roll the dough balls into rope like pieces which weigh around .4oz each. You could use a rolling pin to flatten each piece out so that its 4” in diameter. Alternatively, my Chinese grandmother used a tortilla press which easily did the trick, perfectly circular each time.

We already had the Kitchen Aid stand mixer with the pasta roller attachment which came in handy. So it can now serve a newfound purpose.

Equipment needed:

  • Kitchen aid stand mixer with pasta roller attachment
  • A 4”cookie cutter (or, a round flat object with a diameter of 4”, along with a small knife). 
  • Chopsticks

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of cake flour
  • 2/3 cups of boiling water (make sure its boiling hot)
  • Potato starch (only to keep from sticking)
  • This yields approximately 50 skins.

Method: 

1. Pour the 2 cups of flour into a large mixing bowl. Pour the boiling water into the mixing bowl in a circular motion. Use a pair of chopsticks to roughly mix the two ingredients. The mixture may look grainy but don’t fret- that is normal

2. When the mixture is cool enough to touch, knead for around 5 minutes.

3. Roll the mixture out into two balls of dough. Wrap tightly in cling wrap and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

4. After the dough has rested, Turn on the kitchen aid pasta roller. Start off with a thickness of “1”. Pass the first ball of dough through once, fold it over and pass it through again. Switch the thickness to “2”. Pass the sheet through once. Switch the thickness to 3, and so on until you reach the thinnest level of “8”. Pass it through once each time. When each sheet becomes too long, cut the sheet into more manageable lengths to work with. Best to finish with one of the balls of dough to not let the moisture escape. Dust potato starch onto your counter and on top of the dough if it becomes sticky.

5. Take the cookie cutter and make the round shapes. Stack the round skins on top of one another. Dust some potato starch in between each skin.

6. Continue to take the leftover scraps of dough, knead together, and pass through the pasta roller until there isn’t anything left.

7. If you would like to store the skins in the refrigerator for later, place them in between lightly dampened pieces of paper towel and in a ziplock bag.

Next Up….. A vegan filling

A New Beginning

Two years, 3 months 4 days. Osaka Grub opened its doors to customers in the historic Essex Street Market in the Lower East Side on June 26, 2016. We were a Japanese fusion food stall- 10’x10’ in size but fully operating. 

When we incorporated this business in 2015, our vivid memories of okonomiyaki brought us back to our time living in Tokyo – we wanted to share one of our favorite comfort foods with New Yorkers. Our dream soon became a reality. Its really been quite an amazing journey for two people who didn’t have a culinary restaurant background to begin with.

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese cabbage savory pancake. It’s pronounced “oh-ko-no-mee-ya-key”. It translates to “As you like it”. The classic Osaka-style okonomiyaki holds up like a normal pancake, packed with cabbage. The texture is slightly soft, and you can taste a hint of dashi (Japanese bonito fish stock). There are shrimp pieces inside the pancake, layered with pork belly and topped with Japanese mayo, sauce, seaweed flakes, and the extra-special bonito fish flakes that always looked like they were dancing on top.

Unfortunately, we are no longer opened and we are saddened not to continue down the path of operating a restaurant- its been an incredible opportunity. In order to still share with you our culinary creativities, we’ve decided to start this blog- musings, our own recipes, and whatever else comes to mind.

 And so we live on.