Wontons & Dumplings

Sometimes meal planning can be an enormous challenge, especially when we are watching our calories and a lot of our favorite fresh produce is mostly out of season. We are sick to death of boring salads and boneless, skinless chicken. In my continuing efforts to cook lighter dishes without sacrificing on flavor, I decided to take an Asian route and make some soup with lots of vegetables and wontons. I had a bunch of odds and ends in the freezer ready to be made into a healthy broth and I also had pork chops and shrimp. All I needed was veggies and wonton skins.

Wontons are one of the most popular and oldest types of dumplings in Chinese cuisine. There are hundreds of types of dumplings filled with many combinations of meat, poultry, seafood and vegetables, but wontons have been enjoyed all over Asia for 1,000 years. Wontons vary in shape, flavors and serving methods from region to region. For instance, Cantonese style wontons have an irregular shape and are served in noodle soup while Sichuan wontons are triangular and are dressed with chili oil. They are not terribly difficult to make and the ingredients are easy to find.

PORK AND SHRIMP WONTONS

1/2 lb pork, moderately fatty
1/2 lb cleaned and peeled raw shrimp
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced or grated
1 minced garlic clove
1 tbsp sweet Chinese rice wine, such as Mirin
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup chopped scallions, white and green portions
salt & pepper to taste
1 package wonton skins

The day before I made wontons, I made a big pot of stock from the chicken bones and veggie remnants that were in my freezer. To give it an Asian flavor, I added a couple nubs of fresh ginger and a bunch of scallion tops while it was simmering. Before I started making wontons, I took the stock out of the fridge, put it in a big pot on the stove and added some shredded Napa cabbage, bok choy greens, thinly sliced carrots and celery and some snow peas, just so the veggies could begin to cook in the broth. Then I turned my attention to the little bundles of deliciousness.

Wonton filling should be juicy and firm inside its wrapper. If the pork is too lean, the wonton filling will be dry and crumbly. Ground pork is fine for this recipe, but it should be 80% lean. However, I like a little more chunky texture to my wonton filling and I figured I could also make some dumplings with the same filling and steam or fry them. Therefore, I decided to use a Porterhouse cut pork chop that had some fat along the edges and a nice section of tenderloin on one side of the bone. Making sure to save all the fat, I cut the meat off the bone of my pork chop and cut it into large chunks, which I put in the bowl of my food processor fitted with the metal blade attachment. I also peeled and de-veined the shrimp, cut them in half and added them to the pork.

When I cook, nothing goes to waste and since I had a pork bone and a bunch of shrimp shells, I decided to make a quick broth that I could add to the soup for an extra punch of flavor. I put the shells and pork bone into a small pot with a chopped green onion, a nub of ginger and a garlic clove and turned the burner to medium high. I sauteed the shells briefly before adding water and turning the heat to low. This small pot slowly simmered away while I made the wontons.

I planned to just finish making the filling entirely in the food processor, but I also didn't want to pulverize the pork and shrimp and lose that toothsome texture I was going for. Before adding the rest of the ingredients, I pulsed the food processor three or four times to roughly chop the pork and shrimp. I measured the rest of the ingredients right on top of the meat and pulsed a few more times to make sure everything was well incorporated, then scooped the filling out into a bowl. Before assembly, I set up a wonton making station with a small bowl of water, small pile of wonton wrappers, some filling and a plate with a thin dusting of corn starch on it to keep the wontons from sticking. One at a time, I put a small blob of filling in the middle of each wrapper, moistened all the edges with a tiny bit of water, then brought the corners of the wrapper up to make a little bundle. Its important to squeeze out any air as the wontons get sealed to prevent them from exploding while they cook. I pressed the moistened edges of the wrapper together to make sure it was well sealed before moving on to the next wonton.

I got about 10 wontons made, which was enough for dinner, then put the rest of the filling in the freezer. I took the wrappers out of their plastic container, wrapped them in a slightly damp paper towel, slipped them into a sandwich bag and put them in the freezer with the filling. By the time I was done making wontons, my broth was simmering gently, so I strained the broth I'd made from the shrimp shells into the pot, dropped the wontons in and let them cook gently until they floated, which only took about 5 minutes. The soup was fantastic with the veggies still kind of firm and the wonderful flavors of shrimp, pork and ginger in the wontons. The filling had that meaty chew that I was hoping for and it was a healthy and satisfying meal for a cold Sunday night.

As the weekend approached, I moved the filling and wrappers from the freezer to the fridge in anticipation of making dumplings by the following weekend. By the end of the week all the soup was gone and when I got home from work on Friday evening, I took the filling and wrappers out of the fridge.


I wanted to see how these dumplings performed both steamed and fried, so opted to steam half the dumplings and fry the other half. I put about an inch of water in a large pot, put my steamer basket in the bottom and laid several cabbage leaves on the steamer to keep the dumplings from sticking. In a small pot, I put about two inches of vegetable oil and turned both burners to medium high. As I was making the dumplings, I tried a few different shapes. For the steamed dumplings, I pinched the corners of the wrapper, then wrapped them around the side, leaving the filling exposed. For the fried dumplings, I made triangles, little bundles and tiny little cylinders that looked like mini egg rolls. I put the open-top dumplings on the steamer basked and put a lid on the pot. Two by two, I fried the other dumplings in the hot oil until they were crispy and dark brown. We enjoyed our dumplings with a little soy, hoisin sauce and sriracha. And they were a wonderful, tasty Friday night treat. There are lots of different types of fillings and cooking methods to experiment with, but this filling is a great all-purpose wonton and dumpling mixture that I know I'll make again and again.