Clem's Pork + Prawn Wontons

Almost anyone from Southern China will know of and have a liking for wonton soup, with or without noodles. These are dumplings which typically have pork as a filling. Sometimes, chicken is used instead (especially for halal versions). Other ingredients are just as often added according to a chef's preference. They are not difficult to prepare especially if you can get all the ingredients. Here's how to make wontons:

INGREDIENTS

• 500 g pork mince (or chicken if you prefer).
  The mince I used was 90% lean meat and 10% fat (go for more fat if you like a softer mouth bite).
• 500 g prawn; shelled, deveined and cut into small pieces.
• Wonton skins.
  The only skins I could find in Sydney are twice as thick as those available in Kuching.
  Wontons are more delicate and preferable to have when made with thin skin.
  If I had more time I might have made my own skins or rolled out the bought ones thinner.
• Fish sauce.
• Sesame oil.
• White pepper.
• Chicken stock powder/MSG (optional).

METHOD

The main ingredients in my wontons
 

• Mix the pork mince and prawn together well either by machine or by hand.
  Mix until the mixture is noticeably tacky (this is when the myosin exuded from the meat is present in sufficiency to form enough cross-links between the protein fragments in the mix). Tackiness will mean that the use of a binder (such as starch) will not be necessary.
  
  During the mixing, flavour with white pepper, sesame oil, fish sauce and chicken stock powder/MSG as you like.
  
  NOTE:
  
  You may wish to vary your wontons by adding other fillers such finely diced Water Chestnuts (for a bit of crunch); finely diced shitake mushroom; and shaoxing wine (Chinese cooking wine). When you have added a lot of other ingredients, and change the skin to a round one (instead  of rectangular), you might end up making sui kows (another form of Chinese dumpling) rather than wontons.
   
• Scoop appropriate dollops of the mix with a teaspoon onto the wonton skins and then fold them into your desired shape.
  I made mine in the shape of Chinese ingot currency (yuanbao)

My wontons made in Chinese ingot shape
 

• To cook the wontons, it is preferable to toss them into boiling water (not the soup which they will ultimately be served in) because the wheat flour which coats the skins will otherwise end up clouding your soup.
  Cook for a sufficient time (the skins will soften a lot earlier than the filling is cooked).
• Gently remove the wontons from the boil and add them to prepared soup in which you might also placed cooked noodles.
  Garnish with fried shallots and spliced spring onions.

Enjoy your wontons!

www.clemkuek.com

18 March 2024
 

Created by Clem Kuek