Trader Joe’s Frozen Dumplings Fly Fearlessly through Asia

You may ask why an advocate of homemade Asian dumplings would get near frozen dumplings. The reality is that Asian grocery stores carry tons of frozen dumplings, and one of the best ways to explore the world of Asian dumplings is to eat frozen ones. They’re among Asia’s convenience processed food, like instant ramen noodles. With frozen dumplings, you get to try different flavors, doughs, and check out various shapes. You also see and appreciate homemade ones in a different light too. But let’s be clear – comparing store bought, frozen dumplings with homemade ones prepared from scratch is like comparing apples and oranges. They’re not in the same class. However, to understand the world of Asian dumplings, you’ve got to eat lots of them from varying sources!

Over the years, I’ve purchased plenty of frozen dumplings from Chinese markets but it had been a while since I’d tried any from mainstream food stores. A few weeks ago, while at Costco, I observed two average American shoppers buying a huge bag of frozen Ling Ling (Panda brand) pot stickers, along with Otter Pops popsicles and mini bundt cakes. Then at Trader Joe’s last week, I noticed that about 4 feet of the frozen food case contained various frozen Asian dumplings.

The Thai Gyoza got me the most. What were those? Gyoza are the Japanese version of Chinese jiaozi dumplings. The Thais have their own dumplings but treading on East Asian dumpling turf wasn’t not the norm for Thai cooks. What made the dumplings Thai, Japanese, or Chinese? What were they? So not only did I scoop up bags of Trader Joe’s Thai gyoza dumplings, but also shu mai, samosas, and mini wontons. My husband and I sampled all of them yesterday and here are our thoughts:

Vegetable Samosas: Following the directions, we baked these small triangles in the oven at 350F for 10 minutes, turning them midway with the expectation that they’d be evenly crisp. Sadly they were not close to being shatteringly crisp like ones we’ve made at home. The wrapper was downright odd – chewy, hard, and vaguely unpleasant. The potato and pea filling was lackluster and mushy. There was no spicing or flavor reminiscent of Indian food. These looked more like Burmese samosas that are traditionally wrapped in Chinese spring roll skins, though the Trader Joe’s skin was much thicker. This dumpling did not have a specific cuisine attached to it so it's hard to know what Trader Joe's had in mind.

Chicken Shu Mai: Unlike the packaging photo that made these open-faced dumplings looked fried and nicely browned, the shu mai looked cadaverously unappetizing. They were small thumb-size nuggets in a plastic bag and pieces of the skin had chipped off during shipping. The surprise was some dipping sauce that was oddly tart and not much else. What was the purpose of the sauce? So I tossed it and made my own with soy sauce and rice vinegar.

You can microwave the Trader Joe’s shu mai but I steamed mine instead (see second row of dumpling in photo above). Though still weird looking after being reheated, the shu mai were actually okay. The filling was texturally smooth and firm (like traditional shu mai/shao mai filling) with diced carrot inside. I wouldn’t go running back for more but unlike most frozen Asian dumplings, these (like all Trader Joe’s dumplings we sampled) contained no MSG.

Chicken Cilantro Mini Wontons: The photo on the box has the wontons pan-fried with some brown coloring but I love my wontons poached, in broth, or deep-fried. I used the boiling pot of water from steaming the shu mai to cook these wontons. right from the package, some of the mini wontons were clumped together, but they eventually came apart during the cooking process. Just gently stir during poaching. The little pleated dumplings were cute as a bug’s ear and had a charming handmade look. The skins cooked up to a nice silkiness.

 

After poaching, I sampled some on their own and the texture was nice but the filling of chicken and cellophane noodles was nondescript. We tasted no cilantro. So I reached for some soy sauce, homemade chile oil, and sesame oil and tossed the wontons in that mixture to adding zip. The result was much more palatable. (7/2/09 udate: I found that you can combine these wontons with another Trader Joe's product -- Chinese-style barbecue pork -- for a great quick wonton and char siu pork noodle soup! )

Thai Shrimp Gyoza and Thai Vegetable Gyoza: There’s no window in the packaging for you see the actual dumplings but at $4.29, I expected them to be a high-class product. Sure enough, the dumplings were uncommonly handsome -- made on the larger side, about 3 1/2 inches long. They are handmade in Thailand and their nicely pleated appearance reflected that.

Surprisingly, they had been partially cooked beforehand and the bottoms were all slightly browned. Most frozen gyoza are not precooked this way. To test Trader Joe’s, I cooked the dumplings two ways – pan-fried like traditional pot stickers and steamed. The pan-fried ones cooked up with extra crisp bottoms, thanks to skins made from combining wheat flour and tapioca starch; some of the bottoms were a bit too crisp for my taste but that was the starch in operation.

The Thai gyoza fillings were more flavorful than that of the other Trader Joe’s dumplings that we sampled, but texturally, especially the vegetable one laden with garlic chives and napa cabbage, was awfully mushy. “You barely need teeth to eat these,” my husband remarked. The vegetable filling was pungent with a slight bitterness that was not overcome by my soy and vinegar dipping sauce. The shrimp filling was milder and you could distinguish the shrimp pieces, though there was little shrimp taste. As for the steamed ones (see photo above with the mini wontons), the pre-browned bottoms partially came apart as if bubbles had burst, making for an unattractive dumpling.

Our burning question as we ate the Trader Joe’s pot stickers was this: What made the dumplings Thai and Japanese? The flavor profile of both dumplings lacked any of the markings of Thai or Japanese cuisine. Where was the Southeast Asian flair and/or Japanese subtlety? To label a food Thai or Japanese is a great way to attract shoppers. (It attracted me!) But combining the two cuisines in one food and then not quite delivering a Thai-Japanese experience is over promising. It seems as if the Thai gyoza moniker was crafted in a cavalier fashion. Good appearance but lacking in substance.

Overall: Frozen mass-marketed Asian dumplings are not the same as homemade or even those that you get at a quality dim sum house. But for the ease associated with keeping these in the freezer for quick meal, these Trader Joe’s dumplings are okay. Compared to other convenience food that are laden with oddball preservatives and seasonings, these Trader Joe's products are made from wholesome, clean ingredients. They are not going to ‘pop’ in flavor as you may want as they’re developed for a very broad audience. With exception to the samosas (which I would not buy again), the other dumplings we sampled are not bad in a pinch and good when when you're having an extra lazy day.

In the realm of processed foods, we give them the grade of: B

If you have experience with Trader Joe's dumplings, either the ones sampled here, or others, let me know your thoughts. What brands of frozen dumplings do you like?

Comments

[Christine, RN, BSN]

Interesting post. I actually enjoy the Thai Gyoza Vegetable. I agree, the relevance of "thai" and "dumpling" do not really go hand in hand. I suggest you email TJ and see what they say!

[Andrea Nguyen]

Thanks for your thoughts, Christine. The Thai gyoza have many good things going for them. It's odd but the first one tasted good and the subsequent dumplings had a slight bitter finish. You wouldn't happen to have experienced that ever, huh?

Do other folks think that I should email TJ? If yes, aside from the Thai gyoza connection, are there other questions you'd like answers to?

[Tana]

We eat the Thai gyoza shrimp dumplings regularly, and we add the TJ's Black Pepper sauce to the white vinegar and La Yu chili oil for dipping—and sometimes cilantro, which there can never be enough of.

I prefer the pan-fried to steaming, though I've tried both. (Steaming is quicker and tidier, to put it mildly.)

Good work.

[Andrea Nguyen]

Tana, great tip on your dipping sauce. Try a few fine shreds of fresh ginger in your sauce sometimes too!

The way that the Thai gyozas are manufactured with the browned bottoms, they're destined for pan-frying.

[Mrs. L]

We buy dumplings/potstickers/Goyza from Trader Joes but it's not their brand. I don't think I've noticed the TJ brand before so I'll have to pay more attention and do some taste testing! Thanks for the heads up.

[Andrea Nguyen]

Check it out, Mrs. L and share your thoughts. The taste testing is the fun part!! I'd love to get your insights.

[Lee]

My daughter is hooked on all variations of asian dumplings right now, and I just bought my first bags of pork and chicken gyoza at TJ's. Haven't tasted them myself yet, but both were a hit in her lunchbox this week. I have always liked the Ling Ling chicken potstickers as well -- I boil or steam and then panfry until crispy. A friend sent me a link to this site when I posted about dumplings on my blog, and I'm excited to find it. Learning to make homemade jiaozi is one of my resolutions for this year, and the year is nearly half gone!

[Andrea Nguyen]

Hi Lee -- Thanks for your thoughts on Ling Ling and TJ. Great to know that those products are well received by your daughter! You will be able to make your resolution this year. I promise.

[Diane]

I never buy the frozen dumplings anywhere (even Chinatown) as I have been universally disappointed. This one one of the (many) reasons I am looking forward to your book!

My best success with samosas - for one who has an honest to god fear of frying - is to make little baked hand pies with the samosa filling instead. It's very tasty, and with a good chutney is almost as good. Sure you don't get that satisfying crunch, but one isn't exposed to undercooked greasy stodge that way either. Some day I'll learn to fry, and then I can venture out into real samosa land.

[MIKO]

Andrea, I've tried all the items that you list above, because of my constant shopping at Trader Joe's. I agree that the Thai veggie dumplings are slightly bitter. Moreover, it's hard to eat them because they fall apart even as they are cooking. I had this same problem with Trader Joe's pierogies- the falling apart thing. Aside from falling apart, though, I felt like they had a lot of "healthy" flavor.

I actually like the plain old $2.99 chicken gyoza that Trader Joe's sells at half the price. They offer nothing spectacular but they do offer something reliable and basic. Also, they do not fall apart. I could taste little difference between the pork and chicken dumplings and feel less weird eating chicken, so I usually get those.

My dipping sauce is also homemade with rice vinegar, white vinegar, chinese black vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, sugar, and either chilies or chile oil. I usually make a bunch of sauce and then store it as I eat more dumplings.

The shiu mai were a bit dense and rubbery, but okay. I did not dare try the edamame shiu mai because it didn't seem right to me, but for real edamame fans they might be a good option.