Annie Chun's Wontons and Potstickers crispy, tender, tasty

Annie Chun's All Natural Frozen Potstickers and Mini Wontons. Pork & Ginger, Chicken & Garlic, and Chicken & Cilantro Mini Wontons; and Chicken & Vegetable, and Pork & Vegetable Potstickers. $2.99 per 8-ounce bag of mini wontons or $4.49 per 7.6-ounce bag of potstickers.

Bonnie: Annie Chun's Frozen Potstickers and Mini Wontons are a convenience food I can rave about. Both of these products are dumplings with savory fillings of different sizes and shapes: the wontons small and round, the potstickers larger and crescent-shaped.

You can either pan-fry them or add them to soup. To pan-fry, heat a small amount of oil in a large frying pan, add either dumpling, let brown, add a tablespoon of water or broth, cover and let steam. They're crispy on one side, tender on the other and as yummy (or even yummier) than what you'd get in restaurants.

What's missing is a dipping sauce, which you can easily make by combining equal parts of low-sodium soy sauce and seasoned rice vinegar. (I used a red pepper one.)

Nutritionally, any of these are fine as an appetizer. One potsticker contains about 35 calories; a small wonton about 15, not including the fat if you fry them. Although they're all tasty, the Pork & Ginger wontons are the most flavorful; the cilantro-wanting Chicken & Cilantro, the least.

Carolyn: Restaurant takeout and caterers have long been the main options for people who wanted to entertain without cooking or embarrassment. That is slowly but surely changing with supermarkets' increasing gourmetization. (I am thinking about Pepperidge Farm cookies, Pillsbury Savorings pastry appetizers and Buitoni Riserva pasta.)

These new frozen potstickers and mini wontons from Annie Chun's, this company's first foray into the freezer case, are the latest example. Freezing delivers vastly superior-quality food compared to shelf-stable. (Just try out Healthy Choice's frozen Cafe Steamers and shelf-stable Fresh Mixers dinners side-by-side if you don't believe me.)

The Pork & Ginger and Chicken & Cilantro Mini Wontons are particularly easy to make (just cover with wet paper towels and microwave for two minutes), delicious (more than the too-hot Chicken & Garlic) and seemingly healthy, at least compared to pan-frying the potstickers in oil. (Although those packages offer similar microwave directions, they are "not recommended.") The potsticker flavors are also lots less interesting and distinctive.

But the mini wontons are so good I'm saving the remaining to serve at my next book group meeting. (I hope they read the book, rather than this secret to my cooking genius!)