Dumpling rescue

I wanted—needed—good dumplings. The several different brands I had purchased from Viet Hoa were either too mushy or a bit off in flavor, and while they were still semi-satisfying, I couldn't even obtain those regularly since the supermarket was in Denver. And I hadn't discovered the Asian markets in Fort Collins yet.

Enter Ling Ling Potstickers. I spotted the bright yellow bag in the freezer of King Soopers, where the cheery cartoon panda on the front told me two things: 1) This was an American brand, and 2) I was totally going to give them a try. Even though I'm usually a pork-and-leek girl, I tossed the giant bag of chicken-and-vegetable dumplings (the only kind they carried) into my cart and went to the registers, eager to pedal home and plop a handful into boiling water.

So that's what I did. After dousing the cooked dumplings in chili-garlic sauce, I took my first bite.

Verdict? Not bad, which in these circumstances means good. The flavoring wasn't quite Chinese, as it was sweeter and had an odd gingery taste, but the skins were resilient and the filling was nice and bouncy, no mushy meat here. I don't have any idea what the "vegetable" was, but there were bits of green…nonetheless the dumplings succeeded in hitting the spot. Huzzah!