We tried to use our leftover gyoza wrappers to make marshmallow puffs…but it didn’t go to plan

This simple recipe proved to be far more difficult than expected!

Making gyoza, or Japanese dumplings, at home can be a lot of fun, but it sometimes results in a few left-over gyoza wrappers. What do you do with them? If you put them in the fridge for another time, they’ll just become hard and unusable. So should you just throw them away?

While wondering about this exact topic, we came across a recipe on marshmallow brand Eiwa’s homepage for “Deep-fried Marshmallow Gyoza” that we just had to try. I mean, who doesn’t want ooey, gooey, hot, melted marshmallows inside a crispy skin?

There are just three ingredients you need for this recipe: water, marshmallows, and your leftover gyoza wrappers.

You start by making them the same way you would ordinary gyoza: simply sprinkle water around the gyoza skin, place the marshmallow in the middle of the wrapper, and then wrap it up. The key to that last part is tightly squeezing the overlapping bits together until they merge, leaving no open pockets behind.

Also, beware that your gyoza wrappers may have hardened up a bit already, since, presumably, they’ve been out of the packaging for a while, as they were leftover from another recipe. This might make them tear easily. However, you don’t need to make a lot since you’re using leftovers anyway–just enough to snack on, so don’t worry if a few don’t work out.

Once you’ve wrapped up the marshmallows into little gyoza pockets, all you have you to do is pop them in hot oil and fry them!

Or so we thought, because even though we were sure we’d tightly pinched the edges together, the marshmallow managed to squeeze its way out between the cracks.

Marshmallows cooked directly in hot oil very quickly transformed into a pitch black substance closely resembling what we assume dark matter would look like. Based on the smell and the appearance, they looked extremely dangerous.

Those wrapped in gyoza skins that did manage to be successfully fried without any leakages we considered to be great successes. They came out as plump, cute crescent moon-shaped snacks that were delightfully crunchy on the outside and deliciously melty and chewy on the inside.

In the end, though, out of the seven we made, only two managed to keep their marshmallows contained, a fact which brought us great sadness.

▼ Marshmallow puff results, clockwise from top: Slight Escape, Escape, Escape, Dark Matter Attached, Slight Escape, Success! Success!

We thought about it the whole night and came to a conclusion: our way of wrapping the marshmallows was probably the issue. Maybe we should have used the One-Touch Gyoza Pack to firmly shut them? Or…wait! What if we did them wonton style?

So the next day we went out and bought more gyoza skins and tried our hand at it again, and the result…was a crushing failure. All seven of them leaked marshmallow fluff in the hot oil.

But although they looked terrible, the flavor was actually exceptional. If you eat them fresh while they’re still hot, the gyoza skin is super crispy and makes a satisfying crunching sound. Of course, the pretty ones were good too, but the ones with marshmallows leaking out of the skin resulted in a sweet and sticky covering for the deep-fried gyoza batter that turned it into an unbelievably tasty sweet. The plain-tasting gyoza wrapper really soaked up that sweetness; the relationship between them was equal to that of a Pocky stick and its chocolate coating.

But while these might look like great party snacks, they actually kind of kill the mood because the success rate is so low. Maybe they would cook better baked or pan-fried like the mini apple pie gyozas we tried previously.

Either way, though, in our opinion, these are best eaten without pomp and circumstance: in the kitchen over the sink almost immediately after they come out of the oil. Think of them as a reward for yourself for all the hard work you put into cooking gyoza!

So the next time you have leftover gyoza wrappers, give this recipe a shot. It may not come out pretty, but you won’t regret it in the least.

Reference: Marshmallow no Eiwa
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