My dad is a teacher at the high school I went to, and on Wednesday he's hosting the faculty Christmas party at our house (technically it's a "holiday" party, but cm'on, who are we kidding?). This means that tomorrow at 3:12 when school lets out, a large group of my former teachers will descend on my house, bringing booze and (hopefully) cookies. I plan to hide for the duration of the party. However, before I lock myself in my room, I will take 5 minutes to cook up some of the gyoza I made the other day for my old high school teachers to nosh on. At potluck-style parties like this one, there is a tendency for everyone to bring sweets, leading to a serious lack in savory foodstuffs. This easy, make-ahead recipe will help solve this common problem and impress your guests, whether they used to assign you homework or not.

Ingredients:
*makes about 50 gyoza

Filling:

1 lb extra lean ground pork
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp vinegar
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 brussels sprouts, very thinly sliced
2 green onions, chopped into thin rounds
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp sesame oil

About 50 storebought round wonton wrappers
1 tbsp vegetable oil for frying
1/2 cup water for steaming

    In a large bowl, combine the ingredients for the filling. Stir vigorously to completely break up the ground pork and fully incorporate all the ingredients. Now take a wonton wrapper in the palm of one hand:



Put a spoonful of filling in the middle:



Dip a finger from the other hand in a cup of water, and trace your finger around the edge of the wonton wrapper to moisten it. Now press the two sides of the wrapper together.



Working out from the center, press the edges together and crimp them.



Repeat this process until you have used up all the filling.

To cook the gyoza, heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a large skillet until the oil spreads out across the surface of the pan. Place gyoza in the hot oil so that they are not touching each other (you will probably have to do several batches). Fry the gyoza on one side until golden. Now pour in 1/2 cup water, cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium low. Steam the gyoza for about five minutes, until the wrappers are soft and the filling is fully cooked. Enjoy!

If you wish to freeze the gyoza to cook at a later time, make sure you freeze them so they are not touching. The first batch of gyoza I made, I froze so that they  were touching. When the time came that I wanted to cook them, they stuck together like a high school clique at the homecoming dance, and I ended up with this:

  A delicious mess.