As a person who grew up eating wontons, i find a hot bowl of steamy wontons so comforting. These little morsels filled with prawn and pork are the epitome of my childhood and i can’t wait to share a piece o fmy childhood with you. Note that there are many ways to enjoy wontons, my personal favourite as a child was wonton noodle soup and as i grew up, i learned to love chilli oil wontons.

There are afew things to note with these wontons:

1. Wonton wrappers: you can find them at Asian grocery stores! However, i find that recently regular supermarkets will stock them too!
2. Prawns: a good wonton requires lots of prawns! and they better be chunky. Take the time to cut your prawns into cubes rather than grinding them. That way you get a lot more texture from the bounciness of the prawns.
3. Filling: you need to knead/stir your pork and prawn mixture quite a bit! Work that protein so that it becomes super sticky. This will result in super bouncy wontons! If you cannot eat pork, then you can substitute with chicken mince.

Ingredients

Wonton Filling:
200g pork mince (or chicken mince)
200g prawns, cut into small cubes
100g shiitake mushrooms, chopped
1 tbsp shaoxing rice wine
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp warm water + 1/2 tbsp mushroom or chicken powder
1 tbsp cornstarch or potato starch
1 tbsp ginger, grated
1/2 tbsp salt
pepper

Wonton wrappers

Chilli Oil Broth:
1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
1-2 tbsp chilli oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp chicken/mushroom powder
1 tsp sugar
herb (either scallion/green onion or coriander/cilantro), chopped finely
1 ladle of the starchy boiling water

Method

1. Wonton Filling: combine all the ingredients for the wonton filling together in a bowl. Mix it well for at least 3 minutes to work the protein and make the mixture extra sticky – this will result in a bouncier wonton.
2. Folding: working with 1 wonton wrapper a time, place 1 tsp of filling in the center and use the sticky filling as glue to pinch the wontons. Repeat until you run out of filling.(see video)
3. Boiling: bring a pot of water to a boil and depending on the size of your pot, drop in approximately 10 wontons. Let them boil until they float to the top and continue to boil for an extra 3 minutes. Scoop them out and drizzle lightly with some sesame oil to prevent sticking.
4. Chilli Oil Broth: Combine all the ingredients for the chilli oil brother into a bowl and mix well. Drop in the boiled wontons and mix. Enjoy!