Gyoza Sauce

Finally!

I’ve been grieving the Gyoza sauce we used to get with our Chinese food from the Safeway counter. Do you know the sauce I’m talking about? I think I’m the only one who ever called it by its proper name. Gyoza sauce. That was always met by a blank stare from the food scooper behind the counter. “What?” they’d ask after an uncomfortable silence. “Potsticker Sauce,” I’d say. I always wanted to add, “It’s right there … on the package. Read it.” Of course, “Potsticker Sauce” was also right there on the package, but … still.

This is the sauce that was nicely connected to the chili oil. A little flavor duo, packaged for your Chinese-food-eating pleasure.

And then, one dark, horrible day, the party ended. “Could I have a couple of packs of Gyoza sauce with that?” I asked.

“What?” the girl behind the counter asked.

“Potsticker sauce.”

“Oh, that. We don’t have that anymore.”

Clean up on aisle six. We’ve got a fainter.

When I came to, I was horrified to find it hadn’t just been a bad dream. They really and truly had discontinued my beloved Gyoza sauce.

You think I’m making too much of this. But it was slurp-worthy, that sauce. It was “hand me a straw” delicious. Tangy and salty and full of umami (I’m going to make you look that up). Gone … gone … never to be seen again … gone.

Until today! I looked around at a bunch of recipes, tweaked the ones that looked most interesting, and came up with my own version of my very favorite dipping sauce. Take that, Safeway!