Wontons and dumplings are my freezer stables. They are easy to make and you can make ahead of time, stick them in the freezer, take them out whenever you want. They can be steamed, boiled, fried, be an appetizer, soup, or entrée. Great with most dippings in the fridge. Folding wonton is not difficult, well, even I am not super good at folding them so don't be intimidated by it. There are many different ways to fold them, but the point is to keep the meat mixture inside the wrapper tightly without falling apart in the cooking process. The easiest way I find is to fold the wrapper in thirds to make a rectangular shape. There is no such thing as ugly wonton. They are all beautiful and delicious.
I recently picked up a pack of Sichuan Pepper from an Indian market so that's why I made this dish. Be forewarned, its spicy level will numb your tongue and lips, but also so good. I made the same dish 2 days straight because it was so goooooood!
Ingredient
500g Ribeye Steak, cut into long thin strips
1 Tsp Corn Starch
1 Tsp Chinese Rice Wine
Salt
3 Tsp Soy Sauce
½ Tsp Sesame Oil
2 ribs of Chinese Celery, cut into 2-in long
2 small Red Chile Pepper, chopped
2 Garlic, sliced
1 Scallion, only the green part, chopped
2 Chinese Green Pepper, remove seeds, cut into 2-in long
1 tsp Sichuan Peppercorn
½ Tsp Sambal Oelek
Water
Instruction
In a small bowl, mix steak strips, corn starch, rice wine, salt, sesame oil, and soy sauce together. Leave it the fridge to marinade for an hour.
Add oil to a frying pan or a wok, turn heat up to med-high. Add beef strips and marinade liquid and stir fry till about medium rear (you can still a little bit of pink). Remove beef from pan. Set Aside.
Add a little oil, then add garlic, Sichuan peppercorn, red chile, stir till fragrant. Add samba oelek, stir and mix.
Add celery and green pepper, stir fry them together with chile mixture. Add a little bit of water from the outer rim of the pan (go around once). Add salt. Mix everything together.
Once the celery and green pepper look almost done, add beef back to the mixture and stir everything together. Let cook for 2 minutes. Taste for salt.
Sprinkle scallions on top.
Wonton Ingredient
2 packs of Wonton Wrapper
2 lbs Ground Pork
3 large Dried Mushroom, soak in water for at least 2 hours then small dice them. Keep mushroom water for later.
2 Tsp Ginger, minced
2 Scallions, only the green part, minced
1 cup Green Cabbage, minced, sprinkle salt and mix, set aside for 15 minutes. Use cheesecloth or a stack of paper towel to squeeze excess liquid out.
1 Tsp Sakura Shrimp (dried mini shrimp)
A small bowl filled with clean water
Instruction
Filling 1: In a large bowl, add 1 lb ground pork, mushroom, ginger (1Tsp), scallion, salt, mix well. Slowly add in mushroom water from before, 1 Tsp at a time, continue mixing till mixture becomes sticky. Set aside.
Filling 2: In a separate large bowl, add 1 lb ground pork, remaining of ginger, cabbage, sakura shrimp, salt, mix well. Slowly add in water, 1 Tsp at a time, continue mixing till mixture becomes sticky. Set aside.
Fill clean water in a shallow cup or a bowl, the water is going to act as "glue" to close wrappers up.
Place a wonton sheet in your palm (or on the counter, if you prefer), use a teaspoon to scoop out a small amount of filling and place in the middle of wonton sheet. Spread it out to a long shape. Wet your index finger in the water cup and tap the edges of wonton sheet, slowly fold the bottom sheet up and upper sheet down like folding a letter. Press the sides down tightly to close. That's 1 wonton done. Repeat till filling 1 is all gone.
Place a wonton sheet in your palm (or on the counter, if you prefer) but as a diamond shape this time, use a teaspoon to scoop out a small amount of filling and place slightly above the centre. Wet your index finger in the water cup and tap the edges of wonton sheet. Carefully lift the bottom corner up to meet the top. Like a triangle. Press down the edges. Wet your index finger again, this time, tap the right of the triangle, and then lift both left and right, press them together tightly to close. It should look like an envelope.
Place wonton on a baking sheet and put in freezer to dry. After that, put them in ziplock bag and leave in freezer whenever you want to eat some wonton!
How to cook wonton:
Wonton cooks very quickly because of its thin wrapper. Boil a pot of water and put some wonton in to cook for like 2-3 minutes or till they are puffy.
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