Dumplings

I love cooking. I don't do as much of it as I used to, but I still love exploring the world through recipes. One of my favorite commonalities is that so far, every cuisine I've looked at has it's own form of dumpling.
When I lived in Tokyo, I often bought a steamed Chinese dumpling bun for supper from a corner shop between the train station and my home. My favorite of the flavors available was a sweet/savory blend of chicken and spices with dough as soft as a cloud.

Here's a page hosted in China that has a brief description of dumplings from 24 different countries : Dumplings

And here is the website of the Thüringer Klößmuseum A Dumpling Museum in Germany.

If I had to choose just one dumpling as a favorite, it would probably be the Japanese Gyoza. (A recipe can be found HERE.) In China it is called something like "Kuo Te" (Coo-oh Tay).
They may also be found in the freezer section of many oriental groceries, and some standard grocery stores. (Hillers, in our area).
It is not as heavy or stolid as some dumplings, as it contains a healthy mix of cabbage, meat (or you could use tofu if you like) and seasonings. The most common method of preparing them is to pan sear them on one side, then add a bit of water to steam them until they are cooked through.
The sauce I used was a combination of Ponzu (a citrus-based juice/sauce) hot peppers, soy, and sesame (sometimes with green onions)

Many many an evening I grabbed a package of gyoza from my freezer and had them for supper when I lived in Japan. Whenever I eat them, they bring back good memories of that time :-}