I have previously reviewed Amherst Chinese (Am-Chi) the home of my favorite dumpling, the pea shoot and shrimp dumpling.  Unfortunately, the pea shoot dumplings are only available seasonally, and some years, depending on the crop, they are not available at all. After previously writing about the pork and leek dumpling I recently went back to review their spinach dumplings.

Spinach Dumpling

The Dumplings.  The spinach dumpling comes steamed or pan-fried and the spinach component of the dumpling is actually incorporated into the wrapper dough, which is green because of the added spinach.  The dumplings are filled with carrot, glass noodles, tofu, scallions and shiitake mushrooms, all of which are finely minced.  They had a mild to bland flavor and were best when doused in Am-Chi’s excellent dumpling sauce – in fact these dumplings were best as a dumpling sauce delivery vehicle.  The pan-fried version I got were very greasy.  The spinach dumplings are not vegan as they use eggs in the wrapper dough.

Left over grease

The Dipping Sauce.   Am-Chi has one of my all time favorite dumpling sauces.  The sauce appears to be made of soy, sesame oil, vinegar and grated ginger, it is quite vinegary with a really good ginger edge.  They also serve hot chili oil on the side.

The Location. Am-Chi is locate on main street in Amherst, MA, near the University of Massachusetts.