Frozen dumplings are excessively delicious. If you’re lucky, you can get tasty and cheap ones at your local grocery store. If not, stock up next time you’re at a specialty Asian grocery store. They come in all kinds of varieties, as nearly every culture on Earth thought up the brilliant idea of taking tasty things and wrapping them in dough.

Core Ingredients

• Frozen dumplings

Preparation I: Boiled

• Boil water in a pot.

• Add frozen dumplings.

• Cook for the length of time it says on the bag.

• Drain and serve.

Preparation II: Pan-Fried

• Check the bag to see if there are any instructions about this. Pro-tip: You can save yourself some cooking time by microwaving them a bit before frying.

• Pour some oil into the pan and heat the pan on medium. No, more oil than that.

• Fry dumplings until golden brown at the bottom, swirling the pan around a few times.

God-Tier: Steamed Dumplings Steamed dumplings are one of those things that look like they’d be hard to make but if you happen to have a steamer*, they’re actually faster than boiling. Frozen dumplings will stick to the bottom of the steamer, so use a piece of parchment paper (poke some holes in it first) and save yourself the washing up.

• Select a pot or pan which is the right size for the steamer to sit on top.

• Add water to that pot or pan, and heat it until it’s boiling. You want enough water that it can boil for ten-ish minutes without all the water boiling away.

• Put the steamer on top.

• Put the lid on the steamer.

• Leave it there until the dumplings are tasty. There might be suggested cooking times on the side of the bag.

Variations

• A dipping sauce can be nice. Soy sauce is a classic.

• Dumplings make a great addition to other meals to bulk them out and add variety. Serve with Rice or Fried Rice, or with Fried Noodles or Instant Noodles on a Plate. Or put them in your Ramen soup!

• Bamboo steamers are amazing, but not everyone is lucky enough to have one. If you’re unlucky in this regard, poke some holes in parchment paper and line the inside of a colander with it, and use a lid from a pot to cover it. It’s kinda the same thing. Kinda.