Guotie

Guotie

What you see here is called "guotie" (鍋貼, "pot stickers" in English). If you know gyoza/jiaozi, this is basically made the same way, but in a more longish shape, and never boiled. If you don't know: This is a kind of dumpling, one of so many on this planet, and this specific kind originates from the greater Chinese area.

Gyoza/jiaozi can both be boiled (shuijiao) or fried (jianjiao), guotie are always fried/baked. Taiwan has a chain restaurant especially selling these, and they are frying them in large sqare pans: Lining them up until no space is left, adding some water (and oil I'd say), putting on a lid and then leaving them until they are done.

Guotie are not as common as gyoza/jiaozi, so when I have the coice between these two, it's an easy decision. The guotie in this photo are curry-flavoured, the same restaurant (not the chain) also has a more spicy "Korean" version.

You will probably not easily run into them outside Chinese-speaking areas, but should you see them, they are really worth a try.