Of all varieties of dumplings, wontons are the easiest to make. There is not much folding or pleating required. You simply fold them in half and seal it with just water. It is also very easy to cook in minutes as you don’t need to stuff too much filling in it. There are many ways to cook and garnish the dumplings. You can boil them and add sweet soya sauce, or deep fry them and dip with mayonnaise, or steam and mix with chilli. Either way, they taste great!
Last week, I received this amazing authentic Chinese cooking set from SousChef which includes Every Grain of Rice – Fuchsia Dunlop’s incredible guide to Chinese home cooking. This set includes many of the ingredients you need to get started with the book. As the nation heads towards another lockdown, now seems an opportune time to learn some cookery skills. Pubs, restaurants and many non-essentials will be closed from Thursday onwards. Why not keep yourself safe and shop Chinese food here! You won’t be disappointed! They have everything in store, even utensils and many other Asian cuisines.
Wonton skin can be bought fresh or frozen in most Chinese supermarkets. Don’t mix them up with gyoza skin. Wonton skin is typically square and yellow in colour, whilst Gyoza skin is typically circular and more white in colour. To be honest, I would never attempt to make the skin from scratch even though it only requires a few ingredients. It’s the time and effort. Buying the skin from the shop is so much more convenient. I tend to buy a few packets and keep it in the freezer as they usually have a long expiry date. You can then make them whenever you want!
To make this Sichuanese Wonton in chilli oil sauce, you will need these below.
Ingredients for the wontons:
- 20g piece of ginger, unpeeled
- 150g minced pork
- ½ egg, beaten
- 1 tsp Shaoxing wine
- ½ tsp sesame oil
- Salt
- Ground white pepper
- 3 tbsp stock
- 3 tbsp finely sliced spring onion greens
- 200g package of wonton wrappers
- plain flour, to dust
Ingredients for the sauce:
- 3-4 tbsp sweet aromatic soy sauce or 3-4 tbsp light or tamari soy sauce with 1 ½- 2 tsp caster sugar
- 5-6 tbsp chilli oil, with its sediment
- 2-4 heaped tsp crushed garlic
- 2 tbsp finely sliced spring onion greens
Method:
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- Crush the ginger with a rolling pin and put it in a cup of just enough cold water to cover.
- Place pork, egg, Shaoxing wine and sesame oil in a bowl with 1½ tsp of the ginger water and salt and pepper to taste. Stir well. Mix in the stock, 1 tbsp at a time. Finally, add the spring onion greens.
- Fill a small bowl with cold water. Take a wonton wrapper and lay it flat in one hand. Use a table knife or a small spatula to press about 1 tsp of pork mixture into the centre of the wrapper. Drip a finger into the cold water, run it around the edges of the wrapper and fold it diagonally in half. Press the edges tightly together and lay on a flour-dusted tray or large plate.
- Bring a large pan of water to a boil over a high heat. When the water has come to a boil, drop in the wontons. Stir gently to make sure they do not stick together. Drain well.
- Mix all the ingredients for the sauce together and pour on the cooked wontons. Scatter some spring onion greens and serve.
These wontons are amazingly simple to make and delicious. My daughter prefers crispy skin and not spicy, so I have also deep-fried a few dumplings just for her. Do try it out and let me know!
Disclosure: We received the sample for the purposes of writing this review, however, all thoughts and opinions remain our own.