Gyoza Japanese Potstickers

I made gyoza a while back with a lot of help from my friend Jill. I thought I would see if it was something I could actually do on my own and I wanted to experiment with a different recipe. I added quite a bit more cabbage and some grated carrot as well. It seemed like a good mix. I like gyoza because you steam them rather then deep fry them. They were quite tasty, but let me tell you... it was a labor of love. These guys take FOREVER to make. I'm am used to throwing a meal together pretty quick, but this was a ton of scooping and sticking together, and simmering, etc. It was a bit tedious, but it was worth it, because Doug came home THRILLED and couldn't stop popping them into his mouth. He thought they were perfect, so I guess all that hard work paid off. :) Sorry Doug, but it is going to be quite a while until I make these little beauties again, but they were delicious while they lasted... which wasn't very long, unfortunately. :)

Gyoza Japanese Potstickers (About.com)

• 1/3 cup chopped cabbage (boiled)
• 2 Tbsp chopped green onion
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsps soy sauce
  
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 20 gyoza wrappers
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• *For dipping sauce
• soy sauce, rice vinegar, hot pepper oil

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients other than oil in a bowl and mix well by hands. Place a teaspoonful of filling in a gyoza wrapper and put water along the edge of the wrapper by fingers. Make a semicircle, gathering the front side of the wrapper and sealing the top. Heat oil in a frying pan. Put gyoza in the pan and fry on high heat until the bottoms become brown. Turn down the heat to low. Add 1/4 cup water in the pan. Cover the pan and steam the gyoza on low heat until the water is gone. Serve gyoza with dipping sauce on the side. For the dipping sauce, mix a 1:2 ratio of soy sauce to rice vinegar and add some hot pepper oil if you would like.