For reasons unknown, David, Annie’s brother, was making sambal ikan bilis for a few days in a row and they all looked so good. I mentioned that to him and before I knew it, his son, Anson, was at my gate with a tub of the beautiful stuff…
…just for me. Yes, it was really very good and yes, it was like what he said about the batch he made that day, not spicy. Nonetheless, we enjoyed it to the max – it went so well with rice and when he made some more the next day, I did not LIKE nor make any comment. I sure wouldn’t want to see Anson at my gate again – so shy, keep taking things from people and never giving anything back in return.
It turned out David was trying his hand at making sambal ikan bilis and I just saw on his Facebook page the other day that he was putting it out for sale, alongside his dumplings. I sure would want to place an order one of these days.
Now, that wasn’t all that Anson brought that day. He also passed to me another batch of his father’s shui jiao/jiaoxi (dumplings)…
He said that it was yet another recipe – the filling was not the same as the ones he gave to me before.
My missus cooked them the next morning so we could try them for brunch…
…and yes, she pan-fried them the way my girl prefers eating these dumplings with the added fragrance of its crispy bottom…
Wowww!!! The general consensus among the three of us was that it…
…was so very nice! This one has cabbage too in the filling but after my comment on the previous batch, David had cut down on the taste of ginger so there was just a hint of it, not so strong, just right.
The ladies liked the ones with kuchai (chives) and they loved this one too and when I asked my girl which one she felt was better, she diplomatically replied that both were nice. She so loves these dumplings!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Pan fried dumplings would definitely taste better. So nice of them to pass you the sambal ikan bilis and dumplings. Both cabbages and chives fillings for the dumplings would taste good.
Yes, we enjoyed the dumplings and the sambal too. Wouldn’t mind ordering for ourselves sometime.
I love dumplings too. Pan fried or steamed are both fine with me.
The ladies have bought some frozen ones from here and there and we’ve had some not nice ones. These are good!
I have a small bottle of sambal udang kering, similar vain, and each serving has 160 calorie! So good!
Own-made? I’m not a fan of the factory-produced ones, bottled or canned. They have a certain smell that puts me off.
I love dumplings too! Make a little slurry of rice flour and water, maybe some chicken powder for extra flavour, and pour it into the pan when the dumplings are halfway done. You will end up with a crispy base with all the dumplings sitting on it. Makes a great presentation.
Oh? Thanks for the tip!
Wow.. the ikan bilis sambal looks so good, if they are for sale here, I wouldn’t mind buying too!
Can go so well with rice, even when there is nothing else to eat.
I like my dumpling pan fried too but my other hand prefer steamed.
The sambal looked good.
LOL!!! Like that, have to do twice, differently then.
Those dumplings looks so good!
Yes, they’re very good. We sure enjoyed them a lot.
I am not a huge fan of sambal… but those dumplings… they are a different story. 😉
You’re like my girl. I am not so into those dumplings, will eat but give me sambal any day!