Gyoza vs Guotie -- Which one is which?

                   

Does fried dumpling make you drool?

              Good day, everyone. In this beautiful day, I am going to write the comparison about my favorite dishes, Gyoza and Guotie. Like usual, I am going to introduce the main food first before blabbering about the details later.

              You may have already realize this, but just to be sure, I am going to state this again. So, Gyoza is fried dumplings that actually originated from China. And the name of the original dish is Guotie. Guotie is a fried dumpling which has ground meat (usually it’s pork) and vegetables such as white cabbage, chives, garlic or many other variants. What about Gyoza though?

Gyoza has a few differences from Guotie. For example, the one that I think is really easy to distinct is the wrapping. Gyoza has a thinner wrapping, much thinner than Guotie. Other than that, is the distinctive taste of garlic inside the dumpling. Guotie has a lighter taste of garlic.

 The way both Gyoza and Guotie is served is different as well. The sauce given, for one, is totally different. Usually, when you are served with a plate of Gyoza, you will get a small plate filled with Japanese rice vinegar, shoyu, rayu(chili oil), sesame oil and or ginger.

As for Guotie, based on my own experience, usually there are black vinegar, soy sauce, chopped garlic, sesame oil and chili sauce(varied). Some may serve you ginger in some places. Because I cannot eat spicy stuffs, I would usually pour and mix everything except for the chili sauce. I think, the chopped garlic is given to add the lack of garlic flavor in the dumpling.

Now, let’s talk about the taste. To be honest, this is the most difficult part to write. It is hard to say which one is better than another. So, I will just state some facts about both. In my opinion, Gyoza is saltier than Guotie. In the other hand, Guotie is blander in taste. Thus, come the complementary sauce. Black vinegar if compared with rice vinegar, I think is more sour. Rice vinegar is a bit soft and has a tint of sweet taste.

Lastly, I want to talk about how it is important for us to maintain our health, thus, consuming these delicious dishes may be a guilty pleasure. Do not consume these often, and in a large amount. Do not give away your health for a short pleasure of taste.

That is all for today, thank you for reading. Have a nice day!

PS: For people living in Jakarta, you can find Gyoza in most Ramen restaurants, my favorite one is the one near my house, Tsurukamedou. You can find Guotie in a lot of place actually, my favorite one is Kuotie Shantung 77.

(http://www.meatlovessalt.com/2014/01/pork-and-cabbage-dumplings-guotie-jiaozi-for-chinese-new-year-tutorial-and-recipe/)
(http://www.japan-guide.com/r/e107.html)