More Somewhat Cheap Eats

My dinner plate tonight:
Beef curry rice, korokke, and gyoza

Still using the same groceries from our trip to the West Side Market last weekend, where we bought meat, fruits, and vegetables, Bug also made gyoza and a large pot of Japanese beef curry rice.

Gyoza

Ingredients:
gyoza wrappers ($2.99)
1 lb ground pork ($1.67)
1 cup cabbage, chopped
1/4 cup green onions, chopped (dark green parts only)
1 tsp garlic granules
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
light oil for pan frying
1/8 cup water

Gyoza sauce:
shoyu
rayu
shichimi togarashi
rice wine vinegar

1) Boil the cabbage, then drain well.
2) Mix pork, cabbage, green onions, garlic, sugar, and ginger thoroughly.
3) Scoop a small amount of meat mixture onto the gyoza wrapper. Using a drop of water on your finger, trace along the edges, and fold.
The pressed edges should be pleated and look sort of like a curved paper fan. It should have a somewhat bulbous bottom and be able to sit down flatly.

Cooking:
1) In a large pan, pour enough oil to thinly coat the frying pan.
2) At high heat, fry gyoza far enough apart so they are not touching. If they touch while cooking, the gyoza will become fused with one another.
3) Cook until the bottom of all pieces in the pan brown nicely, but not scorched!
4) Add 1/8 cup of water to the pan.
5) Cover the pan with a lid.
6) Lower heat and let the gyoza cook until the water dissipates.

The flat bottom of the gyoza should have a crunch and bounce when tapped with a utensil (a LIGHT utensil, not a Midnight Meat Train anvil-meat tenderizer).

Sauce:
1) Mix the sauce ingredients to taste.

This is a cheap appetizer or a side dish that yields 45 pieces of godly gyoza. Almost all the ingredients were already in our kitchen with the exception of the ground pork and gyoza wrappers.

Bug did an awesome job in making these look so pretty and uniform. When I tried to make these for the first time a few years ago, mine were broken, fat, skimpy, and/or deformed; basically, just all out sad.

We're planning on experimenting with the filling and the wrapper. Bug wants to make a curry wrapper. I want Jew's ear added for texture.

Gyoza freeze well, so a ton of them made it into a freezer bag as well!

Beef Curry Rice

Ingredients:
2 large boxes Kokumaro curry bricks, hot ($5.60)
3 lb beef shoulder, cut in large cubes ($14)
1 lb carrots, chopped
1 lb potatoes, cut in chunky cubes ($0.87)
2 stalks celery, chopped

1. Brown beef chunks in large pot.
2. Add water to pot so meat is sufficiently covered and compensate for evaporation.
3. Bring to boil then simmer for ~2 hours, until meat is 1/2 as tender as desired.
4. Add carrots and celery, simmer until 3/4 desired tenderness.
5. Add potatoes and curry bricks. Simmer until potatoes are cooked. Water may need to be added to obtain desired viscosity.

This should make 15-20 servings.

For dessert, we took Akemi to see her doting aunts at A Cookie and a Cupcake.

Cupcakes for dessert

I'm not in the mood to fuss with dodging that dark corner. I made a serious attempt, but after a few minutes, gave up when I saw that this was going nowhere fast.

Starting from the upper left going clockwise, we bought the following dangerously delectable cupcakes:
- apple
- carrot cake (can't say enough how much I love this)
- red velvet
- German chocolate (nom nom the topping)

Actually, they'll probably be consumed for dessert tonight and breakfast in the morn.

The cupcake of the week is a blueberry financier with lemon curd filling. They were out today, which means we'll have to return tomorrow!

- Cassaendra

A Cookie and a Cupcake
2173 Professor Ave
Cleveland, OH 44113
Tel: (216) 344-9433