pork wontons;

It was a bit of a late dinner today.  Crazy day for me.  T was headed off all the way through DC to the other end of the Orange line today, so he had to get up early and was out the door before I even got up.  He told me early, so it should have been no big deal, I just had to take a few extra minutes to walk Kenichi.  Lo and behold, of course, that when I came back in from our normal morning walk, Kenichi decided to run for freedom.  I chased him probably a quarter of a mile, and thank goodness it was fairly early so there weren’t that many cars.  A very nice man named JC helped me catch him, and I had to carry the chubbsters back so he wouldn’t run away again.  All in a dress and flip flops I might add.  He had a grand old time with his “freedom” let me tell you.  Even JC remarked that he had a super sweet and playful temperament even if he didn’t care how much he made me run and how many cars he darted in front of.  Came back and had some of the worst cramps I’ve ever had, and a headache to boot, so I ended up working from home.

Long day of hacking away at some database scripts, and I didn’t finish until late, took Kenichi for a walk, and by that time it was 7pm and T was headed back from his Wednesday run club at a local brewery we like.  But that meant more hands for helping make wontons!  And I will say that sometimes T is smarter than me.  I had to show him how to twist up the wontons, but I put the flap down the wrong way (didn’t think twice about it), but T was automatically, not thinking about it, doing it the right way!

This recipe came from my mother–it’s one of the few asian dishes that we make from scratch at home.  I’ve actually never made dumplings, we always made wontons.  I’m not really sure why, I think it’s because wonton wrappers are easy and versatile (although I feel like you’d be able to buy dumpling wrappers too.)  These make a perfect lunch because while filling, they’re a little on the light side for a meal unto themselves, and also because it’s easiest to cook off in batches, so it makes for a kind of ongoing lunch rather than a nice sitdown meal.

The cooking method is a pretty standard one for me: brown up the bottoms, then steam the rest of them in the same pot.  You achieve this by adding a good splash of oil to the pan, and making sure it’s hot before adding the wontons.  Let the bottoms brown probably around 1-2 minutes, then add water to the pan and top with a lid.  Check back on it every 2-3 minutes, and once the water has mostly boiled off, either remove the lid and let the bottoms crisp up or repeat with more water until cooked through.  Especially with pork, do make sure they’re cooked all the way through!

Look out for another wonton wrapper recipe soon, mozzarella sticks! This is a perfect, three ingredient recipe to use up those last few pesky wrappers left over from this recipe!

Related posts:

hoisin meatballs; nikuman (steamed pork buns); pad see ew; pan fried noodles; philly cheesesteak egg rolls;