Season 7-10 Tochigi Special: Chicken Wing Gyoza Bento & Nori Gyoza Bento

Today: we travel to Tochigi Prefecture and meet some of its foreign residents, including bento makers and restaurant owners. Maki and Marc prepare bentos inspired by Tochigi.

Transcript

00:01

On today's BENTO EXPO,

00:04

we travel to Tochigi Prefecture,

00:06

one of Japan's leading producers of strawberries.

00:10

There are more than 40,000 foreign residents of Tochigi,

00:14

and some of them are avid bento makers.

00:20

- Check it out!
- Wow!

00:22

And both Marc and Maki prepare bentos inspired by Tochigi.

00:28

We love bento!

00:35

(The Global Lunchbox 7-10 Tochigi Special)

00:41

The city of Ashikaga boasts a thriving textile and machinery industry.

00:50

Many Muslim people live and work here.

00:54

Everyone loves chicken biryani.

01:00

Ashikaga is home to many stores which sell halal foods.

01:05

These are foods which follow Islamic law.

01:11

Aleli is from the Philippines.

01:13

Her husband is a Pakistani Muslim, so she often visits this shop.

01:18

Today, she's come to buy ingredients for her husband's favorite meat dish.

01:24

I'm going to use this meat with bones

01:26

for my husband's bento, because it's tastier.

01:31

Aleli met her husband in Japan 26 years ago.

01:34

Their family includes their two daughters and Aleli's mother from the Philippines.

01:40

Each day, Aleli prepares a bento for her husband who works at a factory.

01:47

He works hard every day, so he deserves a nice bento.

01:52

She uses a pressure cooker to cook the tough bone-in meat.

01:57

Now, it's tender.

02:00

She's making a Filipino stew called Caldereta.

02:04

She stir-fries the meat and vegetables

02:06

in a spicy mix of tomato seasonings

02:09

and adds coconut milk.

02:12

After simmering for about 20 minutes to integrate the flavors,

02:15

it's ready to eat.

02:19

My husband loves beef.

02:21

Here you go.

02:23

Looks good, huh?

02:25

A Filipino bento of Caldereta made with halal beef.

02:30

Today, they'll enjoy the bento together at home.

02:34

Looks good, as usual.

02:37

I'm so glad.

02:42

Yum!

02:43

Caldereta meat is so tender and goes well with rice. I love it.

02:49

I appreciate how she gets up early every day to make bento.

02:54

Delicious.

02:56

It's my way of thanking him.

02:59

We love bento!

03:03

Now to Utsunomiya, the capital of Tochigi Prefecture.

03:09

It's known throughout Japan for its gyoza:

03:12

dumplings filled with ground meat and vegetables.

03:18

There's even a gyoza statue in the image of Venus.

03:25

Visitors can take photos of themselves as gyoza, too.

03:31

This restaurant's gyoza is particularly famous.

03:35

Gyoza, please.

03:38

The restaurant is run by the Jiang's, a Chinese couple.

03:44

This is their signature dish.

03:48

Here are your gyoza.

03:51

Six different kinds of gyoza featuring Jiang's grandmother's secret recipe.

03:57

He uses tomatoes, charcoal,

03:59

and other natural colorings for the wrappings.

04:03

I'm glad my customers love my grandmother's recipe.

04:10

Jiang came to Japan 21 years ago as a student.

04:15

He met and fell in love with his wife, Wang.

04:19

They've been married for 17 years and have two daughters together.

04:25

Asami is a high school student and makes her own bento every day.

04:30

Today, she's preparing a gyoza bento for her parents

04:33

with the help of her sister, Yoshimi,

04:35

who's an expert at making dumpling wrappers.

04:39

The trick is to give it a rhythm.

04:43

- Not bad!
- Of course.

04:45

Asami helps out at the restaurant and is a pro at wrapping gyoza.

04:50

You need to pinch the pleats.

04:53

Like this!

04:56

The red coloring of this wrapper comes from tomatoes and paprika.

05:02

The gyoza are stuffed with cheese and are wrapped in a unique way.

05:07

It resembles an ear of rice, a symbol of luck in China.

05:14

Yoshimi gives it a try.

05:17

Tricky.

05:18

Yoshimi's gyoza turned out well today.

05:22

Good job.

05:24

Nice teamwork.

05:26

The family restaurant is in good hands.

05:31

After boiling, the gyoza are ready to eat.

05:36

They add Mabo-dofu and fried rice to go with the gyoza.

05:42

In China, eating dumplings is believed to bring good luck.

05:46

The use of red and white, which are auspicious colors in Japan,

05:50

makes for a good-luck bento!

05:54

Wow!

05:57

Awesome!

05:59

How did they do?

06:02

So good!

06:05

I'm happy, which makes them taste even better.

06:11

Thank you!

06:14

We love bento!

06:18

As we just saw, gyoza are usually wrapped in thin round wrappers like this,

06:22

but today both Maki and I are going to be making variations on gyoza,

06:26

that are using a different wrapper.

06:28

I'm using nori to make Nori Gyoza, which is very easy to make.

06:33

Nori is a fragrant mineral-rich sheet of seaweed

06:36

and it's perfect for wrapping foods like sushi, or dumplings!

06:40

To complement the nori, Maki uses a filling that's loaded with

06:44

minced vegetables and pork.

06:47

To the ground pork, add grated ginger,

06:49

cabbage, garlic chives, onion, and "shiso" leaves.

06:53

The main seasonings are just soy sauce and toasted sesame oil.

06:58

Umm, nice scent!

06:59

The vegetables add great textures and flavors.

07:03

Maki shapes the gyoza mixture into patties before wrapping them.

07:07

It's super easy.

07:08

Just put a meatball on one side of nori, and

07:12

fold it like this.

07:14

- Wow, that's a lot easier than regular gyoza.
- Yes.

07:17

So let's fry them.

07:19

That was quick!

07:23

Umm, I love the smell of toasted nori. It smells so briny.

07:28

Fry over medium heat to draw out the aroma.

07:33

Maki pan-fries her gyoza on all sides

07:35

until the filling is nice and firm.

07:38

OK, my Nori Gyoza is done!

07:41

Oh, that looks so good.

07:46

So, Marc, try my Nori Gyoza.

07:48

Itadakimasu!

07:52

I love the texture of those crispy vegetables. You've got the umami from the pork.

07:56

And I love how the nori adds a nice toasty flavor on the outside.

08:00

And it's very easy to wrap.

08:04

Maki packs a vibrant medley of veggies

08:06

to go with her novel Nori Gyoza.

08:08

For kids, she uses carrots and nori to make

08:11

a cute pair of birds!

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It's such a flavorful and easy interpretation of gyoza!

08:18

So Marc, what are you using for a wrapper in your gyoza?

08:22

Well, I'm going to be using these chicken wings or Tebasaki

08:26

to make Teba Gyoza.

08:28

That's gorgeous!

08:30

You might be wondering how chicken wings can turn into a gyoza wrapper,

08:33

but by deboning the wing it turns into a pocket

08:36

that's perfect for stuffing with gyoza filling.

08:39

Let me show you how it's done!

08:41

There are two bones that run through the base of the wing,

08:44

and we need to remove both of them.

08:47

So the first thing I'm going to do is to bend this back right here at the joint

08:51

to separate those two bones.

08:53

And then, I'm going to use some clean kitchen scissors

08:56

to cut this cartilage between the two bones.

08:59

And we're going to push down on these bones

09:02

and you can pry the bone up,

09:04

and you should be able to pull it out, just like that.

09:07

Do the same thing for the other side.

09:09

And once you got the bones out, you get a nice little pocket

09:12

there with a flap of meat on the outside, just like this.

09:16

To stick with the chicken theme, I'm going to make my gyoza filling

09:19

with ground chicken along with shiitake mushrooms,

09:22

onions, and ginger.

09:24

I season the mixture with oyster sauce

09:26

and knead the mixture together until it's well combined.

09:30

Now comes the fun part!

09:31

I'm going to open up the pocket and stuff it with a small spoon.

09:35

The skin will stretch quite a bit so you should be able to fit

09:38

a good amount of filling into each wing.

09:41

- Just like that!
- Oh, it's nice and plump.

09:44

Yeah, it's a chubby chicken.

09:47

Dust the wings with potato starch

09:49

and fry them in a non-stick pan with the thicker skin side down.

09:55

Once they've browned on both sides, it's time to steam them!

10:00

- So let's open it up and check it out!
- Wow!

10:02

So plump! They look delicious!

10:05

So, we're going to glaze this with our 3S sauce,

10:07

and we just want to flip this chicken over to glaze each piece of that.

10:11

And that sauce has evaporated.

10:13

We're going to go ahead and add the black vinegar

10:16

and give it a few tosses to get this coated,

10:19

and our Teba Gyoza is done.

10:21

So gorgeous!

10:26

So, Maki. You ready to try out the Teba Gyoza?

10:28

Itadakimasu!

10:34

The umami-rich filling goes so well with the juicy chicken.

10:39

- With no bones, it's easy to eat.
- Yeap!

10:42

I packed my chicken wing gyoza with egg-fried rice, which is a great match.

10:47

The juicy chicken filling will keep the gyoza moist and tender until lunchtime!

10:53

Today both Maki and I made bentos inspired by gyoza,

10:56

and by changing up the wrappers we are able to create something new.

10:59

So we hope you'll...

11:00

Give them a try!

11:03

Now to our final destination in Tochigi, Mashiko.

11:10

This roadside station offers a wide of selection local fruits and vegetables,

11:15

and has become a popular tourist destination.

11:23

Another major attraction is this stand set up

11:26

once a month by Anne, a Canadian living in Mashiko.

11:32

I have Chilli con carne. My mother used to make it for me all the time.

11:36

I think it's turned out pretty good. I've got a lot of customers, repeaters.

11:43

It's like hearty, homemade food.

11:48

This is the baby. He was really picky.

11:52

Yukiyo says that even when she was suffering from morning sickness,

11:56

she was able to enjoy Anne's cooking,

11:58

which is how they became good friends.

12:03

Anne is a former professional golfer who came to Japan about 30 years ago.

12:09

After retiring from golf,

12:10

she began teaching English in Tochigi.

12:14

She also began making foods using organic vegetables.

12:19

What are you doing? What are you doing, Gracy?

12:21

Are you happy?

12:22

- Mew.
- Yeah, good!

12:26

Today, she lives with her three cats and sells homemade food.

12:31

These are dried apples grown in Mashiko.

12:35

You know, Mashiko is a lot of fun.

12:37

I get to use a lot of delicious vegetables and fruits to make my products.

12:43

Today, Anne is making a pulled pork sandwich bento

12:47

for a picnic with her friend, Yukiyo.

12:50

It's her mother's secret recipe.

12:54

When you have somebody say it tastes good, it's just great.

12:58

After cooking for three hours,

13:01

the pork is tender enough to be shredded.

13:04

So now, we're going to make the barbecue sauce.

13:07

Anne mixes ketchup with molasses

13:10

to make a sweet and spicy barbecue sauce.

13:15

It has more flavor than honey.

13:18

She adds Japanese mustard powder to give it a kick.

13:22

To give it the fire.

13:25

And that's what you want when you are eating barbecues.

13:30

She simmers and reduces the sauce,

13:33

then adds it to the pulled pork.

13:37

Oh!

13:48

Good, perfect!

13:51

Next, she stuffs the pork in between slices of bread

13:55

and covers it with more sauce.

13:58

As a side, a colorful quinoa salad.

14:02

It's a treasure.

14:04

Handmade pickles, and some dried fruit for dessert.

14:09

Mashiko's strawberry.

14:12

The flavors of Mashiko and Canada.

14:17

Now for a picnic with Yukiyo and baby.

14:23

- So good!
- Thank you!

14:25

The meat and the sauce are combining really good together.

14:29

What is the secret of this barbecue sauce?

14:32

It's a secret!

14:37

We love bento!

14:42

I want to try that pulled pork sandwich. It looked so delicious.

14:46

Yeah, it did, didn't it?

14:47

We hope you enjoyed this special episode about Tochigi Prefecture,

14:51

and we hope to see you again here soon on BENTO EXPO.

14:54

- See you soon.
- Bye!