Memoirs Of A Gyoza

Murasaki invited "Poca" and I to an afternoon of Gyoza at her home.

Did you know that Gyoza originated in China and became popular all over Japan? Gyoza is a dumpling that can have a variety of fillings - pork, vegetables, seafood, etc. In China, they eat it either steamed, fried or added in a soup while in Japan, it is generally fried.

In making Gyoza the tedious part is making the dough. However, you can buy pre-made dough pieces at the supermarket to save time and use a Gyoza Maker instead of folding it by hand.


This Gyoza Griller/Cooker was personally shipped from Japan by our dear hostess, Murasaki.


I am a sucker for Japanese food/cuisine. I adore anything and everything Japanese. Murasaki started with this okashii (snack), Calbee. This is made of vegetables.


Our okashii was accompanied by a drink specially blended by Poca. Poca, by the way, brought lemon grass, boiled it in water and incorporated this orange-flavored tea.


Our lemon grass + tea drink! Surprisingly, the flavor was not too strong and over-powering. Totally mild and perfect for our afternoon merienda.


Murasaki started by heating up the gyoza griller/cooker. It must be very, very hot before you fry the gyoza.


After two or three minutes, she pours water in the fried gyoza...


and covers the gyoza to complete the cooking process.


And after another minute or so, she removes the lid and checks the gyoza and made sure that it's not burnt.


Voila! That's how easy it is to prepare the gyoza. And we're ready to eat.


And here's our dipping sauce. It is a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, chili flakes and grated ginger. You can be creative with your dipping sauce. Depends on your taste. But we HEART this one!


Murasaki served Suntory Diet Beer. This 500ml beer is only 110 calories. It taste really light and glides down your throat. It was my first time to try it and I fell inlove with it. I doubt if it's available here in Bacolod City yet. I wish it will be... soon! Love. Love. Love!


Our dear hostess, Murasaki: Thank you for a wonderful afternoon of gyoza-eating and chatting.


And of course, Poca! How can a party be complete without Poca?


Murasaki sells Gyoza. It comes in two flavors: Pork and Vegetable. Frozen Gyoza (10 pieces) Php120.00 only. Cooked Gyoza (10 pieces) Php150.00 only. For orders please text or call Murasaki (Tin-Tin) at +63-915-7162316.


And how about this flavored collagen drink for Php1,500.00 per pack?


She also has this plain Amino Collagen for Php1,800.00 per pack.

Merienda

Merienda is having a light meal in between the three main meals in a day. Filipinos have adopted this from the Spanish. In the Philippines, merienda may consist of a cookie, a small sandwich with juice or in my case, Siomai.

There are different varieties of siomai. From the Chinese (Cantonese & Jiangnan) siomais, the Indonesian Siomais and of course, our very own Philippine siomai.


Siomai in the Philippines is usually ground pork, beef, shrimp mixed with extenders like carrots, jicama (singkamas), and the like. It is then wrapped with wanton wrappers. It can be steamed or deep-fried.

Today, I bought my siomais at Alunan Street, Bacolod City. The store does not have a name and they don't have a phone number (yet). If you come from Yulo's Park just go straight ahead. You will not go past the Alunan Bridge anymore. The stall in on the left. there's a cemented post right in front. You may also ask the by-standers. Eveybody in the area knows them.

Freshly cooked siomai are on display at 1:30pm daily. It was introduced to me by a colleague and a good friend of mine, Jane. These little darlings are to die for! Believe YOU ME! I can finish 10 pieces in one sitting! That's how good it is. And best of all it only cost Php6.00 per piece!


Who doesn't love siomai?