Deep-fried Wonton

It has been far too long since I last posted on my other passion in life, which is food.
This is a special post because it covers my family’s all time favourite snack
food – deep-fried wonton.
Deep-fried wonton are seriously tasty, and, while you have to source a few
special Chinese ingredients, making them is well worth the effort.
Learn to make these well and anyone (e.g. boyfriend, girlfriend,
unruly child, etc.) could become your willing slave!

Deep-fried wonton are seriously tasty!

Recipe
1 packet of wonton pastry wrappers – makes about 40 wonton – (Buy these frozen from your local Chinese supermarket)
Oil for deep frying
1 egg white for sealing wonton together (add the yolk to the filling mix)

For the filling:
300g pork or chicken(thigh, boned and skinned), coarsely minced
150g raw prawns, chopped
3-4 spring onions, chopped
2cm ginger root, grated
1/3 tin bamboo shoots, with the water squeezed out then chopped
½ tin of water chestnuts, finely chopped
6 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked overnight then finely chopped
1 tablespoon rice wine or sherry
1 ½ tablespoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons cornflour

For the sweet and sour sauce:
4 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon Chinese rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
white pepper
dash of chilli oil (optional)
Clove of galic, crushed

Making the sauce:
Fry the garlic for a minute or two, then add the ketchup and the other ingredients and stir well. Check the taste and add a little pinch of sugar if required.

Making the filling:

Chopping Chinese mushroom after soaking overnight

Prepare the ingredients for the filling but do not chop the ingredients too finely for a better texture.

Prepared wonton filling mixture

Mix all the filling ingredients together in a bowl.

Painting egg-white around one half of the wrapper

To prepare a wonton, place a single wrapper on a chopping board or similar surface. Place a heaped teaspoonful of filling in the middle of the wrapper. Do not overfill or it will burst while frying.
Brush some egg white around half of the wrapper edge, then fold over the filling.

Folding wonton wrapper in half

Press around the edges to seal them together. There should be no gaps.
Next apply a dab of egg white in one corner on the side with the folded edge.

Applying a dab of egg-white to the corner

Now pull the two corners of the folded edge over one another and press them so that the egg white sticks them together. The shape should twist into a sort of “boat” shape.

Pulling two corners together to form a boat shape

This “boat”  (or hat) shape is a traditional lucky shape for Chinese. It resembles the shape traditionally used for precious metal ingots.

Forming the finished boat shape

Continue filling wonton until you have run out of filling or wrappers. You are then ready to fry them but first you should mix the sauce ingredients if they are going to be served hot.

A batch of wonton ready to fry

Deep fry in small batches in moderately hot oil. The filling should be cooked by the time the wrapper is golden and just darkening on the edges.

Deep fry in small batches

I find bamboo chopsticks the best tools to remove the cooked wonton

Wonton are best eaten hot but are also an excellent cold snack.

Wonton packed to be eaten cold on a picnic

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