Beef and Celery Dumplings

SOOOO excited...my Lightscoop came in the mail a few days ago, and now I can finally take some decent pictures in my kitchen. There are no windows in the kitchen of our small apartment, so the 'scoop has saved my life!  This means that I can do process shots, and I don't need to put my dinner in the craft room light tent before eating it :)

Once again, this is a recipe that I threw together with no directions...dumplings are awesome because you can just make them to taste, and throw in whatever you'd like.

Ingredients:
1 lb of ground meat - we used all beef, but Dave wants to throw in some pork next time. (I'll allow it)
3 cloves of garlic
4 (ish) scallions
1 1/2 or 2 celery stalks (depending on how big they are)
ginger (not sure how much - we were out of fresh ginger so I tossed in a bit of ground. Buuuut you should use fresh)
6 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tbs sesame oil
Package of dumpling wrappers or wonton wrappers (we used wonton, which is why we have square dumplings)
1 egg, beaten (optional)


Directions:

1. Finely mince the garlic, celery, scallions and ginger.
2. Combine the minced garlic, celery, scallions and ginger with the ground meat.  
3. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil
4. Mix - by hand works best!
5. Place a small amount (see pic below) of the meat mixture onto one of the wrappers.
6. If using a round dumpling wrapper, fold in half and seal along the edges.  If using square wonton wrappers, bring all four corners to the center and seal the edges.  You can seal the edges with either water or a bit of beaten egg.
7. At this point, you can cook or freeze these to make later!  We did a bit of both :)
8. To Steam:  Place in a steaming basket over a bit of boiling water and steam until the meat is cooked through.  This took about 5 minutes for us, and will take a few extra minutes if your dumplings are frozen.
9. To Pan Sear, potsticker-style: Heat up a bit of oil in a skillet, and add a layer of dumplings.  Cook until the bottom is browned nicely, then add some water to the pan and cover.  Reduce the heat slightly and cook for about 4 minutes (again, it will take longer if your dumplings are frozen)

These were totally awesome!

I couldn't decide if I preferred the above pic or the one below...so you get both! :)

You can use about this much (or slightly more) filling in each dumpling

 Aww...check out these guys all ready to freeze!  I froze them on the sheet first, then put them all in a Ziploc bag (yep...we used the brand-name! hehe)

Steamy goodness.....

Yum yum yum!