Wonton – Easy with Brown Dipping Sauce

Wonton is a food I grew up eating as my mom made them often as part of the Chinese heritage. She was from Hong Kong, so someone must’ve taught her the tradition that’s popular for Chinese New Year. 🎍

I remember them from a child. She bought the triangle shaped wontons from the local American Asian grocery store that she went to by herself.

She came back with the square wrappers that she sealed the wontons into a triangle-shape with an egg. Her whisk tool: chopsticks. 🥢

That made sense because my mom usually stuck with no-nonsense practical basics.

And Egg help keeps them closed because wonton wrappers are usually thinner than dumplings.

Sheer wonton wrappers is the one ingredient I didn’t think I would ever attempt to make.

…Phyllo dough like in homemade baklava, yes… but not these see-thru paper wrappers where you make origami pleat folds.

Plus, it’s less expensive to buy the Chinese pasta wrappers than make your own.

For my first-time, I bought a 50-pack for under $3.

A few tips: keep extra wrappers in the freezer if you don’t plan on using or finish using them within a few weeks. Because they will go bad (and turn moldy like blue cheese).

I learned this and so… I did end up making my own. But that was a last resort.

The wrappers are just four ingredients: flour, egg, salt, and water…

Like pasta.

So you can make wonton wrappers with a pasta maker that rolls out (or irons out) a flattened dough disc.

If you’ve never played with a pasta machine, it’s a good investment and fun for all ages… it teaches little ones to be young Chef and Chefettes. 🧑‍🍳

…I’m sure as a kid I would’ve made all kinds of memories if we had one. 💭

For my first try I used dumpling wrappers I purchased from a local international grocery store.

They are easier for beginners when you don’t know how much filling to add and how they will cook or stay together.

…with thicker dumplings wrappers, I could also simply use water to seal them into half-moon shapes with the same amount of filling.

I used pork filling like my mom did. It’s also a less pricey alternative to ground beef.

To make this meat wonton pan, I seasoned the pork. I simply cut up some scallions (with kitchen scissors) and added salt and pepper. Nothing fancy.

Add then added the seasoned pork to the wrappers, and sealed ’em up.

I like to do the pleating method (…reminds me of my mom as a dressmaker)…

But, the pleats didn’t stay together in the cooking process… but they’re pretty cool to look at on a tray.

Then cook ’em up on the stove in a pot full of water on medium heat. They may float as others instruct.

Mine didn’t.

Uh, oh.

So I helped them out. 🛟

…How you get there is part of the fun!

The main goal is to get the wontons cooked through, so setting a timer for 3-4 minutes is more reliable.

And even better than that is you can test one in your Test Kitchen before fishing them out of the pot and plating them… someone has to volunteer their hardwork sacrifice. 😅

And these worked out beautifully. Garnished with the dainty cut scallions I’m happiest with. And a spiced sauce that’s light and flavorful.

Recipe below. 🥢

Next time: I will try a more sophisticated method that’s not the one I just described.

The other method that I’ve seen but have not tried, is assembling them like a patterned puzzle in your sautée pan.

Let them heat up to medium heat, and when they start to sizzle (or whisper to you), then add about 1/2 cup of water or enough to cover them half way depending on the size of your pan.

Cover them.

Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. All the excess water should have disappeared (or you can drain).

Then you can flip your sauté pan over onto a large plate and not have to pick up each wonton piece-by-piece. And if you made a patterned design, then you can imagine how pretty that would be.

(My pleats probably would’ve turned out too. 💭)

…And then they’re ready to share!

Now that’s family-style food at your service.

And if you’re inspired to make these but have no wonton or dumpling wrappers on hand, you can also similarly and easily make fatayer appetizers… these were popular in  Lebanese restaurants I planned parties for.

Many of the restaurant regulars didn’t eat pork for their cultural reasons. You can also make them vegetarian-style with spinach and cheese if you like.