Cheapskate Gourmet: Dumpling Madness

Tasty potstickers make a great lunch treat—and there are many types to try in the East Bay.

Imagine your kid opening up her lunch bag. Expecting another boring sandwich, she’ll sigh dejectedly as she unzips the bag, while taking a look around the room to see if there’s anything more interesting going on than lunch. She’ll reach her hand in, already contemplating how to get the sandwich into the trash without a whole lot of explaining to an adult.

But, wait! What is this? A thermos. Soup? No, it’s way better. It’s potstickers!

Oh, my gosh, my parents are the best, your little angel will say.

Okay, maybe not quite in those words, but Chinese dumplings (or Japanese gyoza, which are about the same but usually have a thinner covering) are actually a great lunch to take to school or work. Just pan-fry and steam for a few minutes, and then pop them in a warmed thermos for when lunchtime rolls around.

There are so many dumplings for sale around here that you could fill your freezer with 30 different varieties and never cook again!

This week, I discovered an organic variety at Whole Foods that is $3.50 for about half a pound. Not so cheap, but the flavors of the chicken and veggies in these really come across, with just a hint of ginger and pepper. (You can of course get dumplings in flavors other than chicken and vegetable, but I stuck to those flavors in order to make fair comparisons.)

There are about ten of these organic ones in a bag, so they’d probably make two lunch main courses at $1.75 apiece, which isn’t bad, considering their deliciousness and if you want organic.

Cheaper, and good-quality dumplings made from pronounceable ingredients like chicken and cabbage, are Trader Joe’s Gyoza. They go for only $2.99 for a one-pound bag. The flavors meld together nicely, the covering is tender, and hey, what’s not to like?

Now at first glance, Safeway seemed to have a good deal on Ling Ling dumplings, $8.99 for 3.5 pounds, but I wasn’t impressed with the flavor. Forgive me if I’m cynical, but these seem like the dumbed-down version for non-Asians. The covering is perfect-looking but too thick, and the filling is super sweet. In fact, the fourth ingredient after chicken, cabbage, and onion is sugar. Your kids will probably love them, which is why you should never ever give them to them. Once they try these sugar balls, they won’t want real potstickers.

Just the same, don’t try the Safeway Select brand, unless you’re looking specifically for a long list of chemical ingredients and partially hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oils.

Le Asia, the Asian market in San Ramon, has half an acre of dumplings (as well as three pounds of Delite mandarin oranges for $1.99, which would go for about $7 at Whole Foods). After trying a few, we liked the Fortune Avenue Chicken and Leek, which go for the low, low price of 1.2 pounds for $2.50. These are small and tender, and the leek has a great flavor. They’re mostly natural ingredients.

Beware if you buy Le Asia dumplings that they don’t have elaborate cooking instructions that will have you pre-boiling dumplings, dumping cold water into the boiling water until it boils again three separate times, hopping on one foot, and waiting for a full moon. Okay, I’m kidding about the hopping on one foot and waiting for the full moon, but the rest is the absolute truth. The last thing you need as you pack lunches in the morning is a complicated cooking process.

Oh, and one last thing about Le Asia. Should you decide to have dumplings for dinner, not unheard of with a little side vegetable or salad, grab some Tsing Tao beer to have with them. On our last visit, a twelve-pack was $9.96. Now, that’s a bargain.
 

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