wontons

[smilingal]

Please share your tried and true favorite wonton recipe. I would like to attempt this tomorrow.

[pine time]

Goggle any recipe for Indian samosas, and sub wontons for the wrap. Sooooo much less work. We actually prefer the vegetarian samosa fillings. All those years I made my own wrappers, and then one day an Indian lady said, "oh, we all use wontons." :)

[annie]

One trick my Hong Kong friend's mum taught me - whatever vegetable you mix into the filling of the wonton - be it nappa cabbage, baby bok choy or the myriad of chinese veggies that you can use to mix in - parboil it first, chop with a cleaver into fine dice and then squeeze out as much water as you can with your fist. Its always given my wontons a superior mouth feel. And although I grind my own pork (this pork must have some fat in it) I always chop my shrimp with a cleaver and never process it with the food processor. The textures as you bite into the wonton are integral to enjoying this cantonese delicacy. (This is particularly true for soup wontons, imho).

[zfalcon]

2 parts ground pork (not too lean), 1 part chopped shrimp, 1 part chopped garlic chives, soy sauce, egg and corn starch as a binder.

If you like a springier texture (like most asian style meatballs), lift the mixture out of the bowl with your hands and forcefully throw/slap it down back into the bowl. Do this for a minute or so.

[bw2082]

I use this for fried won tons:

ground pork, water chestnuts, ginger, garlic, scallions, cilantro, oyster sauce, soy sauce... brown the meat and add the rest to taste

[fourunder]

Why brown the meat? I've never heard of this step before for making any type of Wontons.

I'll use a combination of ground pork and ground/chopped shrimp. Finely diced ginger, scallions, black mushrooms and bamboo shoots.....usually seasoned with soy, oyster and sesame oil. Ground or chopped duck meat is a nice variation.

[smilingal]

thanks - I found a recipe similar to your ingredients above - but couldn't find the black mushrooms - went to three places and gave up - oh well - it was an accomplishment to find lemon grass which I am using for something else.

[monku]

Black mushrooms= dried shitake mushrooms

[Ali]

Hm. Could also be wood ear mushroom/fungus. In fact, I'd say it's more likely since this is also more commonly called black fungus.

[smilingal]

ironic - I am just reconstituting shitake mushrooms figuring I'd give it a try - but I still think,from what I'd read, that black mushrooms refer to other species!

[monku]

Shitake mushrooms=black mushrooms in my book.

[smilingal]

well then - so it is --- for tonight!

[monku]

Make sure you squeeze out all the water you can from the mushrooms before incorporating it into your won ton mixture.

[bw2082]

I brown the meat so that it develops more flavor and so that the won tons fry quickly without getting too dark while waiting for the pork to cook through

[smilingal]

yes - I had notes that I had once made to brown the meat first as well if the wontons were to be fried - I made them in water then put them in the soup.