Shitake!

So happy to have received my first delivery from Terra Organics. I was so bored with buying the same old vegetables from the store, and was hoping Terra would help broaden my veggie world. They did! First box had red dandelion greens, parsnips, brussel sprouts, apples, pears, curly parsley, and Shitake mushrooms -- AND they provide recipes!

Okay, I have to say I'm not a fan of Shitake mushrooms but I did promise myself that I would try everything in the box so tonight I cooked the mushrooms. Terra included a recipe for mushroom fettuccine but that didn't sound good. I found a recipe from vegetariantimes.com (love them!) for a mushroom ravioli using won ton wrappers. I thought if I have to buy won ton wrappers, I might as well just make veggie gyozas so that's what we had: Vegetarian Gyozas with Edamame Succotash, yum! This recipe will probably make about 24 gyozas. I cooked 12 tonight, and froze the remainder (place uncooked gyozas on a paper covered plate and cover lightly with plastic wrap. Keep on plate until frozen through, and then transfer to freezer bag).

If you're wondering if Japanese food is hard to cook it's not. It is time consuming to prepare so make sure you give yourself enough time for the prep:

Vegetarian Gyozas: (serves 2 to 4)

1/2 small Napa Cabbage (Savoy works too) cored and thinly sliced

1 large carrot shredded

4-5 fresh shitake mushrooms cored and finely diced

3 sliced green onions (white and light green part only)

1 clove garlic minced

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 Tbsp canola oil

2 Tbsp water

1/8 tsp cayenne (or to taste)

2 sliced green onions reserved for garnish

Prepare veggies and combine with sauce, cover and marinate in fridge for 1-2 hours (you can also add finely diced Tofu, but make sure to use the extra firm). Drain vegetable mixture before filling wrappers. The leftover filling makes a great salad, and is good over rice too. Heat 1 Tbsp canola oil in frying pan, and cook gyoza till brown on bottom (about 3-4 minutes). Add 1/4 cup water, and cover pan for 3-4 minutes or until gyoza is tender. Set aside on plate.

Edamame Succotash:

1 cup frozen shelled edamame

1 cup frozen corn

1 seeded and diced red bell pepper

Wipe water from frying pan. Add 1 Tbsp canola oil, and saute veggies for about five minutes until crisp/tender. Return gyoza to pan to warm, toss with veggies and plate. Sprinkle with reserved green onions.