I am not really a fan of those sui jiao or gyozas or whatever names they give to those meat dumplings but my girl loves them so we do order those whenever we see any place selling them outside. Her favourites in town would be the ones here or here…and I quite like what I had here though it did not go down to well with everybody that day and they all felt it was more like our Sibu Foochow-style sio bee.
When she was in New Zealand, my girl would buy those frozen ones and fry them to enjoy but I could not imagine myself doing that. You would need a bit of oil to start off, right? Then you need to add a bit of water. Good grief!!! I was pretty sure there would be a whole lot of splutter and I would end up with a horrible mess all over my cooker top. However, it so happened that I spotted this…
…at a bakery in town and I quickly grabbed a pack for my girl to try.
Now that stayed in the freezer for a week…and nothing happened and the following weekend, I decided to take things into my own hands and have a go with it. There were quite a few inside…
…but they were all very small, maybe half of the usual size.
These sachets…
…came with it, one with black vinegar and another with chili sauce. I think the third one was shallot oil, lard that had been used to fry some shallots for the added fragrance – what one would usually use to toss kampua noodles. I decided to use that to grease the pan and once it was hot enough, I put in the dumplings to fry till the bottom was nice and golden. Then, I poured in a bit of water…
…and covered that with a saucepan lid that could fit.
After sometime, I fished them out…
…and yes, they were very nicely done and no, to my delight, there wasn’t much splutter…and we did enjoy them with the sauces…
…provided.
Hmmmm…it certainly was not so hard, after all and I sure would not mind doing it again…
Looking at the instructions at the back, I saw that I could cook it this way or steam it or cook and serve it as a soup dish but seeing that my girl prefers it this way, then it has to be done thus and no other will do.
My friend, Annie‘s brother was making some nice ones once – I don’t know if he is still doing it. Perhaps I can get some of his…and now that I know how to go about pan-frying them, I sure would want to give his a try and cook them like this.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
I think dumplings would really do for me, if they are considered dimsum like chinese siomai, i’d give that a go.
also, arthur just a little favor:
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You can get these at Chinese dim sums, that’s for sure.
Ok, will do. I’ve voted for another blog the other day too.
P.s.: Ok, done. “Thank you for voting!”
I have never been fond of dumplings. I love your photos! 🙂
I do love some. Not really fond of this variety but these that I bought were pretty good, just very small.
I tried the frozen ones when I was in US… Just blanched them only and add a bit of sesame oil n kicap… Nice too surprisingly ….
My girl prefers it pan-fried, so that is what she gets.
Thanks for the tips.
You never tried? I would say it is easier to go out and eat. Of course, it is nicer to make one’s own and one would know exactly what goes into the filling…and it may be cheaper too but one would end up with a whole lot to eat, no point going through all that hassle to just make a few.
We’ve bought some others as well at the supermarkets, not really nice. This one’s pretty good but very small.
Sui jiao looks good, perfectly done and goes best with the chilli dippings.
Yes, wouldn’t mind buying these again, just a little small. 😦
Beautifully browned, i’d eat them with julienned Ginger and black vinegar!
Yes, they gave black vinegar in one of the sachets and we have our own black vinegar too, one bottle, but it so happened that we had run out of ginger in the house that day so I decided to just do without it.
I like the gyozas, and even tried making them myself. It’s not too difficult and I was quite successful in the couple or so times I’ve done it.
I guess the skill is in making the skin, not too thick, not too hard, nicely chewy to make really nice ones. So far we have tried making our own but we just used the pian sip (wanton) or sio bee skin we can buy at the wet market, short cut.
No, the skin is bought. I don’t have the skill or patience to make the skin.
How nice. I don’t think we can get the skin here so we have to make do with what’s available – none of the thicker, more chewy skin that one would associate these dumplings with.
looks like this lives up to the tagline on the packet: The taste you’ve been looking for! 😀
Yes, definitely better than those we can get at the shops and supemarts…but I would prefer just going out to eat the nice ones we have around town. I’m basically very lazy. Hehehehehe!!!!
I quite like these gyozas. Nice dipped in chilli sauce 🙂
I’m fine with them, and sio bee as well.
I do cook this frequently but my less messy approach is to just have either water or chicken stock in the fry pan, bring to a boil, pop in the frozen dumplings and let them cook till the liquid evaporates. Might have to remove the cover towards the end. The dumplings will crust up and if lucky, may “join up” with the other dumplings, and can just flip the whole pan onto a plate. Yum!
Thanks. Not messy this way too – I was very surprised as I expected a massive splutter – water plus oil. I did not fry a lot at one go, lots of space in between so I guess that would eliminate the danger of them sticking together. Will try your way the next time I buy some more, sure can do with a little less oil in everything.
aaaahhh! POT STICKERS ❤ now i'm craving some. nom nom nom!
Wowwww!!! You like? Just like my girl! I’m just ok with these, same as xiao long pao – would eat anytime but would not be craving for them.