Making Wontons

Ever since she was a toddler, my daughter has loved wonton soup. She never fails to order it when we eat at a Chinese restaurant. But there is no reason not to have it anytime. Wontons are time-consuming to make (all that stuffing and folding!) but fairly easy.

The ingredients are shown to the left. For a batch of 50 wontons, you'll need:

1/2 pound of pork (not too lean)
1/2 pound shrimp (peeled, deveined)
1/4 cup finely minced scallions
2 tbsp finely minced ginger
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
A dash of sesame oil
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 package of 50 wonton wrappers

Pulse the pork and the shrimp separately in the food processor until each are finely minced, then combine them along with the scallions, ginger, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and black pepper until well-mixed. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours to allow the flavors to combine.

Fill wonton skins with the mixture and either simmer them in broth or soup to cook them, or freeze them for later use.

You may want to have an extra package of wonton wrappers on hand. Depending on how big the wrappers are and how much filling you put into each one, you may have some of the pork/shrimp mixture left over after just one package.

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How to Fill and Fold Wontons

Place a single wonton wrapper down on a clean, dry surface. Put about half a teaspoon of filling in the center.

Moisten your finger with water and wet the edge borders of the wonton wrapper, all the way around.

Fold the wonton wrapper corner-to-corner over the filling, and press down along the edges to seal them.

Now moisten the opposite corners with water and fold them towards each other. Press the tips together to seal them.

Repeat until you run out of filling or wonton wrappers. (No one ever seems to run out of both at the same time.)

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Simple Wonton Soup

9 cups of pork broth or chicken broth (pork is best)
1/4 cup finely julienned pork loin (about 3 ounces)
25 wontons
3 scallions, sliced into fine rings
1/4 pound snow peas (or 1/4 cup of frozen sweet peas)
A large handful of baby spinach leaves

Bring broth to a simmer and add julienned pork and wontons; simmer, stirring occasionally, for two or three minutes. Add remaining ingredients and continue to simmer for a few minutes until snow peas are tender.

Makes a filling lunch for four.