Wonton in Hot Chili Sauce

My mom makes the best wontons. Her filling is different all the time, depending on her mood and what's available at the moment, so I've taken to doing that as well. K only likes the wonton wrappers and Hubby likes it all meaty with some shrimp. I love them with shitake mushrooms and pork or pork and shrimp. Sometimes my mom will even put in some diced choy.

Hubby probably loves his wontons best this way rather than the traditional wonton noodle soup. I can't blame him. The man does love his spice.

There are so many ways to wrap a wonton. I've always wanted to wrap it the way my mom does it with her chopsticks, but I can't. I just end up smushing the thing into something totally unrecognizable. It's crazy awesome though. She just uses her chopsticks to put the filling in the middle of the wrapper, and then use it to help pinch the ends together to make it into a tiny meat pouch that looks so pretty too. It's similar to how this person does it.


Wonton in Hot Chili Sauce
(makes about 100 wontons)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs lean ground pork
• 1 lb raw shrimp, finely diced (or 7 rehydrated shitake mushrooms, finely diced)
• 1 Tbsp ginger, grated
• 6 garlic cloves, minced and divided
• 6 Tbsps soy sauce, divided
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 4 tsps sugar, divided
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce paste
• 2 tsps canola oil
• 2 tsps sesame oil
• 1 tsp chili oil with some of the chili
• 1 red chili pepper, finely diced (optional)
• 1 green onion stalk, diced
• 1 1/2 lb (about 100) wonton wrappers

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine together pork, shrimp/mushrooms, ginger, 4 cloves of minced garlic, 4 tablespoons of soy sauce, cornstarch, 3 teaspoons of sugar, canola oil and 2 teaspoons of sesame oil until mixed well.
2. Line 2 large plates or baking sheets with wax paper. Set aside.
3. To make the wontons, hold the wonton wrapper in your left hand so that it's diagonal (e.g., each corner pointing top, right, bottom & left). Spoon 1 teaspoon of filling into the middle of a wonton wrapper. Bring the bottom corner up to meet the top corner with your left thumb and middle finger. Then using both index fingers, push the left and right sides up, squeezing out all of the air from the pocket and lightly scrunch the top to make a neat little meat pouch. Lay the wonton down on the wax paper lined plate. Continue until you run out of either wrappers or filling.
4. At this point, you can freeze all the dumplings for 2-3 hours before transferring them into bags for easier storage until you're ready to eat them.
5. To cook, bring a pot of salted water to boil. Gently drop in 16 or so wontons into the pot of boiling water and cook for 8-12 minutes until wontons are cooked through. You'll know they're done because they'll float up to the surface.
6. Meanwhile, make the sauce in a small microwaveable bowl by mixing together remaining soy sauce, remaining sugar, remaining minced garlic, remaining soy sauce, soy sauce paste, chili oil and red chili (if using). Cover with saran wrap and heat on high for 30 seconds. Uncover and mix in green onions.
7. Using a slotted spoon or spider ladle, transfer cooked wonton to a shallow rimmed plate. Spoon sauce over wontons.
8. Serve with tea.

Note: If you want to turn this into a meal, just use the salted boiling water after cooking the dumplings to cook some wonton noodles and then mix them into the remaining sauce after you've finished eating the wontons. Or mix the noodles in with the wonton and sauce to eat together.