Gyoza

The wonton-gyoza are a tradition with my parents, brother, sister, and me. I'll have to find out if Reiko, our maid and friend, used wonton wrappers as well.

Any time my mom made gyoza, we were all happy. I watched my mom as she prepared the filling, watched as she sealed the edges of each meat-filled wonton with water, then watched as she painstakingly cooked them. The gyoza were fried in batches using a covered electric skillet until they were golden. They were also as good as gone once they found their way to a serving dish. We always ate our gyoza with rice.

I wanted to keep the tradition alive. I've made gyoza for my family over the years. The one thing I forgot to watch was how much of each ingredient goes into creating the perfect filling. Spring onion, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and salt are the main seasonings for the meat filling. I began with what seemed correct. Over the years, I've figured out the amounts we tend to like. Serve with a couple drops of sesame in soy for dipping, rice, sliced cucumbers, and thin slices of orange cut in half. Mostly, for the past few years (including New Year's Eve), we've set the meal on our coffee table, almost low enough to remind me of a Japanese table, and watched a Miyazaki movie.