Wonton Factory

After a trip to the market yesterday, my mom and I were feeling very industrious. I have been craving homemade wontons for quite awhile and so we set out to make a batch with a little extra to give away.

When I was a child, good Chinese food on Guam was hard to find. My mom and dad made their own noodles and wonton wrappers for some of the best soups I have ever had in my life. Every weekend my dad currently makes a huge batch of wontons for his restaurants on Guam. My mom a great cook herself loves to take the time to make things for scratch. We did not make the wrappers this time, but the filling is to die for.

Here’s the recipe:
(As always my mom’s recipes don’t have specific measurements, I approximate them the best that I can.)

1 pound of ground pork -- tried to buy pork and grind it yourself
1/2 pound to 3/4 pound of shrimp, cleaned and deveined
three to five stalks of green onion, very thinly sliced
sesame oil, generous amount, start with a tablespoon
chili oil, to taste, start with a few drops
salt, to taste
pepper, generous amount, start with 1 teaspoon

1. Place the ground pork and the shrimp in a food processor and pulse to combine. Then add all the other ingredients.

2. Set a small amount of water to boil and cook one tablespoon of the filling to taste for season seasonings. Once the seasonings are adjusted, the wontons are ready to be made.

3. Buy any good commercially prepared wonton wrapper. They may be frozen so set them out at room temperature to defrost. Carefully peel the wonton wrappers from one another. (Here comes the hard part, I cannot really tell you how to wrap the wontons. The easiest way is to put a small amount of filling, about half a teaspoon in the middle of the wonton wrapper and fold it corner to corner making a triangle. Seal the wrappers with a bit of egg wash or just plain water. You won’t have the most attractive wontons but they will be simple and good. For more advanced wrapping techniques see the Internet or some other Chinese cookbooks with photos.)

4. Cook the wontons in plain water. Allow the water to boil and fish the wontons out when they float to the top, usually after two to three minutes, depending on how much filling they contain. Wontons can be eaten plain, with a dipping sauce or in soups. They can also be deep-fried.

If you make a large batch, freeze the excess on a cookie sheet. After their frozen, they can be packaged or wrapped for future use. See the below photo, for the “little hat” wrapping technique.




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