Welcome to Gaia! ::

Meat Pot Stickers, entirely from scratch.

Dough:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 Cup hot water
some loose flour for rolling

--To make: In a medium sized bowl mix flour and water together. Knead until a dough consistancy forms. Next, lightly flour a flat surface and roll dough out until it's about 1/8 inch thick (thickness is entirely up to you though). Next, take a cup or cookie cutter and cut out four or five shapes. There may be extra dough depending on the size of your cutter. You can save the extra in the fridge.

Meat Filling:
1 cup ground beef or ground turkey
1/2 cup Teryaki sauce
2-3 mushrooms (more or less depending on size)

--Begin browning the meat of your choice. When it's done or nearly done, drain grease and add teryaki. (Teryaki recipie is below if you want to make it from scratch) Finely chop mushrooms and add to meat and sauce mixture. Saute' until everything is coated and mixed well. Set aside to cool some. (I form dumplings with my hands instead of a spoon so I stick the meat in the freezer for a minute.)

* If you want to fry them instead of steam, or if you can stand to wait, you can mix the meat and sauce together raw and put it in the dough raw. I'm just impatient. The texture of it cooked beforehand is different, but I still like it.

Teryaki Sauce:
(Non-alcoholic version)
2 cups soy sauce
1 cup brown sugar
chopped ginger to taste
sesame seeds to taste
water down if it's too strong for you

--Mix ingredients together in a bowl or blender until there's a smooth consistancy. I suggest Kikkoman soy sauce or Jade Dragon, but any will do. There will be plenty left over for other recipies.

To form Dumplings:

--Take the cooled meat and form a little oval shape. Lay the meat onto one side of a dumpling circle (or festive shape) and then wet the edges. Fold the 'clean' side of the dough over and push or pinch it down to form a nice tight seal. If you use a shape, like a kitty head the same principle applies, just form the meat differently and you may have to use a seperate slice of dough to lay over top, like a pie. Repeat for the rest of your dumplings. Depending on the size and shape of your dumplings you may have extra meat left over.

To Steam:
(Without a steam cooker)

--If the dumpling meat is cooked already, put dumplings in a small glass, oven safe dish. Then put that dish into a larger one. Fill the larger dish with water until it comes about half way up the other dish. Cover the dish with Aluminum foil and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Time may vary based on size of dumplings or type of dish, and oven type. It will take longer for raw meat to steam, so you'll have to play that by ear. But I doubt it will take more than an hour.

To Fry:

--In a non-stick skillet, heat some oil. When the temperature is to your liking, place all four (or five) dumplings in the oil and fry on one side for about a minute. Then flip and repeat. It may take longer if the meat is raw. If you fry them you'll have to set them aside on some paper towels to get rid of the excess oil.