Wontons Your Way

Wontons are a form of Chinese dumpling, but the key difference between them and normal Jaozi is in the dough and wrapper shape. Wontons are yellow in colour with the addition of egg yolk and the wrapper itself is a square shape versus being round. The wrapper is also thinner and turns transparent once cooked. Traditionally served in a soup, the filling meat is normally a mixture of pork and prawn, the original and (in my opinion) best form of ‘Surf and Turf’ out there.

My recipe is a riff off my Pork & Prawn Dumpling recipe, but I’ve carrot, which is how my family eat them because they add a sweetness to the filling. However, the sky is the limit and yet again I’m giving you the choice to make them your own way. When it comes to folding them, I’m sharing not two but five folding techniques as well as three different ways to cook them: boiled, in a wonton soup and deep fried. Yes, you heard me, DEEP FRIED! The choice is yours. So go on, have some fun in the kitchen again and choose your own wonton cooking adventure!

 

Makes- 50 wonton dumplings
Ingredients- 9 minimum
Cooking time- 1 hour
Skill level- Easy to moderate 

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Ingredients

• 500g Pork mince
• 200g (10-12) Prawns, de-shelled and de-veined, finely chopped
• 2 Eggs
• 1 large carrot (or 2 small carrots), grated
• 2-3 stalks of spring onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 1 packet of wonton wrappers

Method

Filling

1. Finely chop your prawns. I prefer doing this by hand because I like to have different sized chunks in my dumplings and see the prawns, but if you prefer to blitz them in a blender to get more of a smooth mousse texture go for it! The easiest way to do this is to hold the corner of your knife with one hand in a fanning, continuously chopping motion. Chop through the prawns and continue to do so until you get the consistency you want. 
2. In a bowl, add the chopped prawns and the pork mince and mix well.
3.  Then add in the sesame oil and soy sauce.
4. Grate the carrot and add it to the mixture. I use a micro plane because I like the carrot to be super fine, but you can use a normal grater too. This will make the carrot slightly bigger, but you can also run a knife through them after grating to make them super fine.
5. Add in your chopped spring onion and mix everything together.
6. Then add in your eggs, and mix to bind all the ingredients together. At this point, if your mixture isn't smooth and coming together well, I recommend adding in some cornflour or plain flour (approx. 1 tablespoon) to achieve the right consistency.
7. Gently peel your wonton wrappers from the pack and get ready to roll! I peel about 10-15 at a time and leave the rest in the pack or covered with a tea towel so the dough doesn't dry out.

Folding

There are a few different ways to fold your wontons, so you can pick! I'm gonna show you 5 ways, but honestly the possibilities are endless!

Option 1 - The way I do It, and how my mum taught me

1. Place a small spoonful of the dumpling mixture into the centre of the wrapper.
2. Then fold in half into a triangle, making two pleats on each side and pinch together to the pleats stick.

Option 2 - Envelope Style

1. Place a small spoonful of the dumpling mixture into the centre of the wrapper.
2. Fold in half into a triangle.
3. Then fold the points of the triangle across the body of the wonton as if you are putting on a robe. Dab the corners with some water so they stick together.

Option 3 - Triangle Ingot Style

1. Place a small spoonful of the dumpling mixture into the centre of the wrapper.
2. Fold in half into a triangle
3. Then bring each of the ends of the triangle down to meet each other 
4. Pinch the ends together to they stick and turn out the edges, so it looks like the filling is in the middle and sitting in a boat like shape.

Option 4 - Rectangle Ingot Style

Similar to the Triangle Ingot style, however the only difference is you firstly fold into a rectangle so the end shape turns out a bit different. 

Option 5 - The EASY AF "Just fold it in half" style

1. Place a small spoonful of the dumpling mixture into the centre of the wrapper.
2. Fold in half into a triangle.

 

Cooking

Okay, now it's time to cook them. There are a few different ways to do this and i'm going to show you three.

1. Boiling
2. Wonton Soup
3. Deep Fried

Boiling

1. Gently place your wontons into a pot of boiling water
2. After 5 minutes, the water will come back to the boil and they will float to the top.
3. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon.
4. Place onto a serving dish, and top with some homemade chilli oil, as well as any fresh herbs that you have. I like finely chopped spring onions and coriander.

Wonton Soup

I love eating wontons in a soup, and this is how I like to prepare mine. You can grab the following ingredients, but ideally just use whatever you have on hand at home. 

Ingredients

• Chicken Stock
• Fish sauce
• Carrot
• Greens (Broccolini, Bok Choy etc)
• Spring onions

Method

1. Clean and cut your vegetables ready to go into the soup. I like to cut my carrots into thin strips, the spring onions and broccolini are cut into 5-10cm batons, and the dark green part of the spring onion is finely chopped.
2. Bring your chicken stock to a boil. 
3. In a separate pot, boil your wontons for 5 minutes until cooked. You need to boil your wonton's separately because the starch in the wontons will change the texture of the broth.
4. Add in your hardest green vegetables that will take the longest to cook, in this case the broccolini. Cook until just tender and ready to eat - approximately 5 minutes.
5. Once your wontons are nearly cooked, throw in the spring onions and carrot to cook for 30 seconds.
6. Scoop out your wontons using a slotted spoon into your serving bowl. Then ladle the soup on top.
7. Add in the broccolini, carrot and spring onion from the soup and top with finely chopped spring onions, a dash of fish sauce, some chilli and cracked pepper.

Watch the process

 

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Deep Fried

1. Heat a small pot of neutral oil (I use vegetable oil). My little trick to testing when your oil is ready to fry is to stick in wooden chop stick, and once the little bubbles start to appear around it, you know the oil is ready!
2. Drop in a few wontons at a time and fry on a medium heat for about 5 minutes.
3. Once your wontons are golden, remove and place onto a plate lined with a paper towel so they can dry and the excess oil can drain.
4. Serve hot and immediately

 

 

FAQ's

Where do I find Wonton Wrappers?

They can be found from most Asian grocery stores in the fridge section, normally next to the gyoza and dumpling wrappers. They cost $5 for 500g and you should get about 50 wrappers in a packet. They keep for months in your fridge unopened, so just grab a pack next time and keep it in your fridge for your next wonton craving. They should be yellow in colour and square in shape.

Can you freeze these?

You can absolutely freeze these, you should fold as many as you can with your batch, wat however you want immediately that day and freeze the rest. To freeze, simply place them on a tray lined with baking paper with enough space in between so they are not touching, and place into the freezer. Once fully frozen, you can transfer them to a snap lock bag or container. This method prevents them from sticking to each other when freezing and allows them to retain their shape.

To cook, simply defrost for 30 minutes on the kitchen bench, or 5 minutes in the microwave on the defrost setting and then cook in whatever way you want. 

They will last a few months in the freezer, but if I'm honest I usually eat them within a month. 

For any leftover filling you have, you can freeze this mixture for next time or roll them into little balls and fry to have with either rice or a salad. 

Finally, if you want to make dumplings the morning of or a day in advance, make sure you place them on a tray lined with baking paper, cover the tray with plastic wrap and place into the fridge. This will ensure that the dumplings don't stick to your tray but also prevents the wrappers from drying out in the fridge. Pull them out 30 mins before you cook them to return them back to room temperature.

Can you make this gluten free?

For these to be GF, you would need to use a gluten free flour and most likely make the wrappers from scratch.

I've never seen GF wonton or dumpling wrappers pre-made for sale, but there are plenty of great recipes online!

Can you make this vegetarian?

Yes! You can make the filling vegetarian by replacing the pork mince and the prawns to:

• Mushrooms (Shitake or Chinese brown). Buy the dried version from your Asian grocery store and place them in an bowl of boiling water for 20 minutes before draining and finely chopping.
• Chinese cabbage finely sliced. You'll need to either blanche and drain them or salt and drain as they hold a lot of moisture and can make your filling soggy.
• Firm tofu, finely chopped. You'll need to drain and dry these into a paper towel for the same reason as the cabbage. 
• Bok Choy or spinach finely chopped.
• Bamboo shoots, finely chopped
• Water chestnuts, finely chopped. Also available from your Asian grocer, and adds a crunchy texture to the filling.  

Margaret Zhang made dumplings during lockdown and released her family's secret dumpling recipe which has vegetarian and vegan options, you can check it out here.