Gyoda – Baby Yoda Gyoza

I really wanted to make something to celebrate the return of The Mandalorian and obviously it had to be The Child. I was at first thinking something more practical, like the food or drink from the show. With Jon Favreau in charge, I actually expected more food, but all we really got was bone broth and Spotchka. Since one of those is pretty generic, and the other is a booze made from fermented baby shrimp, I decided to go in a different direction. Fingers crossed for some food moments in season 2!

Doing some quick research, people have made tons of foods inspired by The Child, I was particularly sad that I didn’t come up with the deviled eggs or nachos myself! It was completely random that I was looking at a picture of gyoza and noticed that one side is sort of in the abstract shape of yoda’s face, and the other side looks a bit like the texture and color of his coat. That was all the inspiration I needed to head to the kitchen and create these!

I made one batch of dough regular, and the other I mixed in spinach.

Normally I would put raw meat into a gyoza, but it shrinks a bit and can cause the overall dumpling to look wrinkled. I used a fully cooked filling this time to prevent it from shrinking and to keep the shape of the dumplings better.

After several trial and error attempts I finally got it down. I first made one almost in the shape of a soup dumpling but left the top open

Then attached it to the flat green “head” part

I steamed some of these face down and some face up and I am not sure which way I actually liked better. When I did them face up though, I needed something to hold the ears up so they wouldn’t just flop down.

Steam about 8 – 10 minutes until the dough is cooked through.

really happy with how these came out!

Served in bone broth OBVIOUSLY.

This is the way.

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Gyoda – Baby Yoda Gyoza

Gyoza made to look like The Child from The Mandalorian.

Prep Time1 hour hr

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer, Main Course

Cuisine: American, Japanese

Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound ground pork you can use turkey if you rather
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1/4 cup diced carrot
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon chopped ginger
• 1 cup chopped spinach
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sriracha
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons potato starch
• 1 egg
• 4 cups flour plus more
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups spinach
• dried seaweed / nori sheets
• bone broth
• soy sauce
• sambol
• scallions

Instructions

• In a large frying pan in a little oil, cook the meat with the onion and carrot. Cook until the meat is fully cooked and the veggies have softened. Add in the ginger and garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add in the spinach and cook until wilted. Remove from heat. Stir in the soy sauce, sriracha, and vinegar. Allow to cool 10 minutes. Add in the starch and egg and stir to combine. Allow to fully cool in the fridge until ready to use.
• Split the water, flour, and salt in half to make the 2 different colored batches of wrappers.
• Heat half the water to simmering, add half the salt, and pour it into half the flour. Stir to combine and then knead about 10 minutes until smooth. Wrap with plastic wrap and allow to cool on the counter until ready to use, at least an hour.
• Add the spinach to the remaining water and heat to a simmer until the spinach is wilted. Add the remaining salt. Blend in a blender or with a hand blender until smooth. Add this mixture to the flour and stir to combine, then start kneading. Add more flour until the texture of this dough matches the previous dough you made, maybe about an additional 1/4 cup. Knead 10 minutes until smooth. Wrap with plastic wrap and allow to cool on the counter until ready to use, at least an hour.
• To create the gyoza, roll out the white dough very thin and use a cookie cutter or cup to make 3 inch rounds. Add about 2 tablespoons of filling to the dough round, and crimp all the edges, folding the dough onto itself, to form a pouch with a 1 inch opening on top.
• Roll out the green dough as well and cut the same 3 inch circles, but cut them in half. Wet the back of the dough and attatch the white dough pouch to the green dough half circle. See photos for visual help.
• Heat a steamer on high and put your finished gyoza on pieces of parchment. Steam about 8 minutes until the dough is tender and cooked through.
• Meanwhile, cut eyes out of the seaweed. When the gyoza comes out of the steamer, attach the eyes asap.
• Heat up the broth and season with soy sauce and sambol as desired. Put the gyoza in bowls and add the broth. Top with scallions.