So watch out Australia we are coming home to open our own cooking school

thus adding another foodie option to what we already love to do.
So see you again Tokyo what an amazing city with an amazing food culture.What an amazing food journey Sandy and I have had since we started our 4 sector “Gap Year” way back in April 2013.

We have visited some 23 countries over 500ish days travelling the world for our ultimate international food journey.
This 1/4 along we have covered by plane, ship, car and on foot over 72,372km.
It is a huge privilege that I have not taken lightly to be able to have had such freedom in our lives to let us have a simply amazing experience.

We have visited so many amazing countries.

United Arab Emiratis, Italy, Switzerland, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Netherlands, Russia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Scotland, England, Japan.

We have learnt about so many different food cultures and for those of you who have followed my blog and put up with all the waffle I thankyou and I hope you too have learnt a wee tad also.

So when we meet again I'm sure we will have just a few food topics to chat about.

Love to you all ...

Most of all to my beautiful Sandy for being the one that had to have a international cooking gap year.
Thanks for the wonderful food memories, the interesting people we have meet along the way, the some 450 kitchens we have cooked in and the fabulous foodie information gathered together.

So it's back to the Retreats kitchen to cook up a storm and put in to practise what we have learnt and ultimately open our own cooking school with all that we have both learnt over the past few years.

My motto.

"If you don't ask you don't get"

So never say never ...

I may just have to have a gap year too!!!!

 

 

Had to have a traditional lunch

before we make our way to the airport.

It wouldn't be a traditional lunch without sake.

and the most amazing tuna and egg roll sushi.

Cold soba noodles with tempura to finish.

All while sitting watching the show

  can't get much fresher then that.

 

 

The Gardens at Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo

It's a huge goodbye to the amazing garden at the hotel and what a wonderful place to be really spoiled for the last few day.
Was also a great place to get over our jetlag.

 

 Was just stunning may take a few little ideas home.

 

 

 

 

With all that shopping it's time to

 head back to the hotel and have cold beer and soba noodles in the soba house looking over the cool gardens.

 Soba crisp with miso/wasabi paste and cream cheese 

 with the sounds of trickling water. 

 

 

A whole street full of cooks shops

and Sandy is in "her style of shopping" heaven

Bowls, bowls everywhere

 Egg pans , will have one of those.

 I'd like the pot on the bottom shelf please!!

 Tea cup balcony's

 Plastic seafood

and iced cold beers!!!

 Land of the giants 

 Every possible brush

 and brooms

Thank goodness we have extra KG allowances on the flight home.

 

Just love housekeeping here,

I left 5p on my bedside table and when I got back to our room this is how I found it.

Susie and Ross ... in the lobby this morning

if only I could bring it home for you XX 

Just soooooo clean

Bonsai in the streets,

these out front of a café  

Gyozo

at a great corner location

tucked away at the far end of a narrow ally

Gyoza to "live for"

Pork Dumplings ... fabulous also.

This young man wanted to know how two tourist turned up in his bar ... one walks, one finds great little surprises in the back streets of Tokyo.

So he gave us dinner and a show!

 Tried a new pickle that we have not come by before today, its the stems of Brassicaceae. Soft pickle not too vinegar and with a soft but crunchy texture.
"It's a Chinese's pickle" thanks for the tip may have been a bit hard to get in a Japanese supermarket at home 

 Not sure if all the electrical hanging in and over the hand basin are a OH&'s worry!

Ingredients

For the Gyozo skins

• 300g strong white flour, plus extra for rolling
• ½ tsp fine salt
• 200ml boiling water
• 1 tbsp vege oil, for frying
• 1 tbsp sesame oil

For the chicken or pork filling

• 500g pork or chicken mince
• 1 head pak choi, very finely shredded
• 2cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled, grated
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled, grated
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp chopped spring onions (green part only)
• ½ tsp ground chilli flakes flakes
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• pinch sugar

For the crab and prawn filling

• 1 dressed crab (dark and white meat)
• 200g cooked, peeled prawns, chopped
• ½ tsp fine salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• ½ lemon, zest only, finely grated
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp chopped spring onion (green part only)
• 2cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled, grated

For the dipping sauce

• splash soy sauce
• splash lime juice
• splash chilli oil

Method

1. For the Gyozo skins, sift the flour into a large bowl and mix in the salt.
2. Stir in the boiling water using a knife or a pair of chopsticks until the mixture comes together as a dough. (You many not need to use all of the water.)
3. Roll the dough into a ball, cover with cling film and set aside to rest for one hour.
4. Meanwhile, for the chicken or pork filling, mix all of the chicken or pork filling ingredients together in a large mixing bowl until well combined (the ingredients will form a gloopy paste). Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Chill in the fridge until needed.
5. For the crab and prawn filling, mix all of the crab and prawn filling ingredients together in a large mixing bowl until well combined (the ingredients will form a gloopy paste). Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Chill in the fridge until needed.
6. For the Gyozo skin, turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for five minutes until smooth and elastic. (You can use the dough hook attachment of a food processor for this.)
7. Cut the dough into three equally sized pieces and roll each into a ball. Roll out one of the balls onto a lightly floured work surface, stretching and turning the dough as you go, until the Gyozo dough is as thin as possible.
8. Using a 10cm cookie cutter, cut discs from the Gyozo dough and stack them on top of each other, dusting the top of each with a little flour before adding the next one. Repeat the rolling and cutting process until all of the dough has been used.
9. To assemble the dumplings, hold a Gyozo skin in the palm of your hand and add one teaspoon of the filling mixture. Wet the edges with a little water using your fingertip and seal the dumpling, pinching along the edges to create a pleated fan effect (the end result should resemble a mini Cornish pasty). Repeat the process until all of the filling mixture and Gyozo skins have been used up, setting each dumpling aside on a plate dusted with flour.
10. To cook the dumplings, heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan with a lid over a high heat. Arrange the Gyozo in the pan, in batches if necessary, leaving space between each one, and fry for 2-3 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden-brown. Take care as they will burn quickly.
11. Add 100ml of water to the pan, cover with the lid and steam the dumplings for a further two minutes.
12. Give the pan a shake to release the Gyozo from the bottom of the pan and continue to cook for a further two minutes with the lid off, until the filling is completely cooked through.
13. Meanwhile, for the dipping sauce, mix all of the dipping sauce ingredients together in a small bowl, to taste. Set aside.
14. When the Gyozo are cooked through, drizzle the sesame oil around the edges of the frying pan and shake the pan.
15. Serve the Gyozo immediately with the dipping sauce.

Recipe Tips

To check the seasoning of the filling mixture before making the Gyozo, fry a little of each type of mixture in a frying pan and taste, then adjust the seasoning accordingly.

If you don’t have time to make the Gyozo skins from scratch, they can be bought from Asian supermarkets.