Gyoza

If you call these 'pot stickers', I forgive you, but you have NOT had the real thing!

My dad served his mission for the church in Japan a really long time ago. Okay, like thirty years ago. (okay, really I don't have any idea what years he served his mission and don't feel like doing math...). There was a little restaurant that served the best gyoza and even had an eating challenge- eat fifty in fifteen minutes or something- and the meal was free! Of course this had a big draw for the starving missionaries =) 

When he and my mom got married, he wanted her to learn how to make these, but couldn't find quite the right recipe. I don't know the rest of the story, but it ends with my mom following a tiny Japanese lady (who doesn't speak English) around a tiny kitchen. My mom had to make notes and sketch pictures of the bottles and packages that she was using and then try to find the matching ingredients at the Asian market. The recipe is flawless (of course it is, have you met my mother??) and we LOVE this food!

It's not easy to make though, so we only get it twice a year- February (my brother's birthday) and March (my birthday). The women in the family usually sit around the table hand-pleating each 'skin' while my mom fries and steams batches and batches and batches. I make the infamous gyoza sauce because I always tweek the recipe and no one else knows how =) It's a little trick I use to ensure they always invite me for gyoza night!!

I am so hungry right now. Haha

Oh- and this is what Bennett was doing while we made dinner...