Many years ago on a trip to Kyoto with my parents and my sister, we found ourselves stuck in the pouring rain and we ended up in a random casual eatery to seek refuge. As soon as we went in, we saw a family eating a delicious meal and this dish caught our eye so we ordered it.
Well, it’s stayed on our family recipe repertoire since. It’s absolutely delicious.
Serves: 2
Photography: Safia Shakarchi
Ingredients
200g pork mince
200g mizuna
½ a pack of gyoza skins
500ml vegetable oil
2cm knob of ginger, peeled and grated
1tbsp soy sauce
½ tbsp sugar
1 tbsp mirin
A pinch of fine salt
For the dressing:
100ml kewpie mayo
50ml rice vinegar
Plenty of cracked black pepper
Method
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Heat a frying pan on medium heat, adding a drizzle of vegetable oil. Then, add the pork mince with the soy sauce, sugar and mirin and cook it while breaking it up with a wooden spoon. You don’t want clumps of unbroken mince. You want it all broken up so it can soak up the delicious sweet soy sauce. Once it’s cooked, set it aside.
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Heat the vegetable oil to 170°C in a medium to large sauce pan. While it’s heating, cut the gyoza skins into thin slices and fry them in the oil until golden brown. You might need to shimmy them around in the pan for an even colour. It takes around 3-4 minutes to do this. When they’re ready, scoop them out with a slotted spoon on to a plate with a couple of sheets of kitchen roll. While it’s still hot, give a very light sprinkle of fine salt on to them for seasoning.
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Wash and drain your mizuna and pop it in a big serving bowl. In a jar, mix all the dressing ingredients; pop the lid on and shake it!
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Once that’s all ready, simply dress your salad by topping your mizuna with the pork mince, drizzle the dressing on top and sprinkle the gyoza skin crisps and it’s ready to serve. You can enjoy this warm or cold, it’s delicious either way!
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