In just about every cuisine there is a version of a meat filled pastry in one form other another. Across Asia there are numerous little versions of meat filled parcels, in Japan it's gyoza, in Korea a mandu, Wonton in Hong Kong and in China there are many types of jiaozi. In Europe you may know them as pergoi if in Poland, ushki in Russia, klöpse in Germany and of course in Italy you have ravioli or tortellini. If you think I exaggerating you can simply check the very long wikipedia page.

And I love them all, give me a meat filled pastry, whether it's steamed, boiled or fried and you will see a happy man. The variety of the way you can enjoy these is also know no bounds.  Fried, boiled, of steamed, as a star then yu can top them with a favourite sauce, have them with mayo throw them in a soup, serve them simple as they come. It all depend on you mood.

Fillings also can vary name a meat and someone has wrapped it in some form of pastry. On a trip to the Great Wall in China some years ago we visited a fairly remote area (less tourists) and happened to have dumplings filled with ground donkey .. not that we new at time.

For this simple ravioli style version I'm using store bought wonton wrappers and a simple combination of beef, pork and dried porcini mushroom for the filling, with a few dried herbs for flavour, and very simple tomato and garlic sauce.  Don't be afraid to experiment both with fillings and toppings.