We’ve come a long way in food choice in Australia, and one of the winners for the nation is dumplings.
Once upon a time, our only dumpling experience was dim sims fried or steamed at the local takeaway, or if you were lucky, your nanna made golden syrup dumplings as a special treat.
But these days dumplings are everywhere, including the frozen section of the supermarket.
The beauty of the dumpling is that within a few minutes, and with astonishingly little in the way of culinary skills, you can have a meal of delicious dumplings gently steaming in a bowl in front of you. Add some soy sauce, or chilli oil if you are feeling fancy, and away you go.
So which are best? We sampled several brands of supermarket pork dumplings, all of which you can boil or steam. I’d like to say there was some science behind the choice of pork, but the reality is my daughter doesn’t like seafood and there is no way I could eat all those dumplings myself. I needed the backup.
So here’s how it went.
Hong Kong Dim Sim Kitchen, pork and chive dumplings $8.50
Packaging is slick but when opening the bag the initial appearance was not good. They were all clumped together, which meant they had been defrosted at some point. As I had to toss this ungainly dumpling ball into boiling water, by the time they had separated, they also cooked unevenly.
Appearance-wise, there’s no getting around it, they looked a bit dodgy. The skins were wrinkly and a bit leathery to taste. Taste overall was a bit bland.
Rating: Generous at 5/10. Won’t be rushing back.
Easy Tiger Pork Gyoza, $10
Classic gyoza appearance and we elected to steam them as per the instructions rather than the usual shallow fry.
They have a good kick of ginger in the taste and a very moist filling. Easy to steam, and didn’t stick together. I would buy these again.
Rating: 8/10 and would try a shallow boil and fry next time, gyoza-style, to bring out the taste.
Mr Chen Pork and Chive dumplings, $10
Mr Chen doesn’t just talk about chives, they live it. Usually the amount of chives is measly, but these dumplings were positively festive in the chive department. Yet the flavour was also delicate and well balanced, and the filling moist.
Rating: 9/10. Teen son declared these his favourites, but I’m not sure if perpetually ravenous teen boys can be relied on for totally unbiased opinions.
Lucky Kitchen Barbecue Pork Dumplings, $10
Classic Asian cutesy design in the packaging, complete with a kitten.
These stood out for their barbecue flavouring, where the other brands were just, well, pork. They would make a good contrast to other dumplings in a mixed platter of dumplings.
Rating: 7/10, a bit more filling wouldn’t go astray.
Seng Hork Pork and Prawn Dumplings, $8
We had high hopes for these with the old-style packaging, thinking they would be more authentic, but sadly they turned out to be the most bland out of the selection.
Even the addition of prawns could not add any interest.
For comparison purposes, I ate all the dumpling brands without any sauces to sample the true taste, but I had to add some soy sauce to this brand for any level of enjoyment once I got past the first one.
Also, there were some bonkers cooking instructions. You had to boil for five minutes and then add half a cup of cold water and then boil for three minutes. I have never in my decades of cooking seen instructions like this. Just … why?
Rating: 2/10 and a stern ‘lift your game’ thrown in for good measure.
My final advice would be to boil whatever brand you choose for at least a minute less than recommended by the packaging. Sticking to the instructions left them a bit squishy and visually fluffy and unappealing.
What are your feelings on dumplings? Fried or steamed? Why not share your thoughts in the comments section below?
Also read: Jalapeno Beef Dan Dan Dumplings
