pan-fried pork wontons;
These pan-fried pork wontons are a delicious staple of my childhood. I’d make them with my mom and always had fun folding different wonton shapes. I’ll admit that I somehow could not make sense of the classic twist shape but now I don’t understand why. It seems so easy.
I always use premade wonton wrappers for my pan-fried pork wontons. They’re already a labor of love and making dough from scratch is just too much! I want to get these nummy little pork wontons into my mouth as soon as possible! And the recipe as-is already demands a lot of patience!
We had them for a late dinner today. I really like to focus on the food on my blog, but I have to just pause to vent the crazy that was today, for once! My partner was headed all the way from one end of the orange metro line to the other and had to leave before I even got up.
He let me know a few days ago, so that just meant I had to take our Shiba Inu Kenichi for a walk before I left for work. All fine and dandy right? Except lo and behold, upon returning from our walk he dashed out the door for freedom!
I chased him a quarter of a mile and that goodness it was early because there weren’t a lot of cars when he ran across the street. A very nice man named JC helped distract him long enough for me to snag this 45lb dog and then CARRY him all the way back home. If that’s not a workout, I don’t know what is.
Kenichi was quite proud of himself. Even JC remarked that he had a super sweet and playful temperament. Never Ming my panic at cars that could hit him or how far I ran. I just kinda gave up on the day when the running gave me a headache and terrible cramps so I just worked from home.
Which meant more time to prep wontons for dinner. Once my partner got home after his run club at the local Mad Fox (since closed, boo) Brewery, he helped me out. He even folded some wontons better than me without even trying! He folded the flap down a better way than I was.
Okay, crazy dog escapee and terrible cramps aside, these pan-fried wontons are so nostalgic for me. I don’t make many classic Asian dishes but this is one of them, and they always come out great, and delicious, and I eat far too many of them.
I’ve actually only made dumplings recently, pork wontons have always been what we made growing up. My mom claims that the pleating for dumplings is harder, but I’m not sure it is now that my best friend taught me.
Pork wontons was always more of a lunch meal, than dinner growing up. They can be a little on the light side if you’re starving, and you typically need to pan fry them in batches since you’re making near 100 and they need to be arranged in a single layer on the pan.
Because of that, I recommend multiple simultaneous pans, and serving them in more of a rolling “eat them as they’re done” style than a full sit down meal. Of course you can eat them for dinner, but it’s more “pancake vibes” where a serving plate just gets handed around as each batch is done.
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!
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pan-fried pork wontons;
Ingredients
- 1¼ lb ground pork
- 3 scallions greens only, diced
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- 1½ Tbsp ginger minced
- 1 Tbsp garlic minced
- 3-5 leaves Napa cabbage shredded
- 75-100 wonton wrappers square, thin, wrappers (roughly 2 16oz packages but may depend on brand)
Instructions
- To a large bowl, add 1¼ lb ground pork, chopped scallion greens from 3 stalks (discard whites), 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 egg, and 1 tsp oyster sauce
- (Optional) You can add peeled ginger, cabbage leaves, and garlic cloves to a small chopper or food processor and blend to speed up the dicing process. Skip the next three steps if using an electric chopper.
- Peel and mince garlic, then add it to a large bowl.
- Peel the ginger using a spoon to scrape away the "bark" coating. You can also use a pairing knife, but you tend to lose more ginger that way. Finely dice the ginger root and add it to the bowl with the garlic.
- Wash and dry cabbage leaves, and shred them into julienned 1"-2" pieces. Add to the large bowl with the ginger and garlic.
- Stir the pork mixture together until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Set out your wonton wrappers, the filling, a small bowl of water, and a platter to place the folded wontons.
- Fold your wontons to the desired shape. Classic wonton: To fold a classic wonton shape, take a square wonton wrapper and wet the edges. Place a heaping tsp of pork filling in the center, then fold the wrapper on the diagonal to make a triangle. Press together the edges to seal it shut. Fold over the top point of the triangle, then twist the remaining two corners in opposite directions and press together so they stick. You can add another tiny dollop of water to make the points stick."Jacket" wonton: To fold a "jacket" shape, take a square wonton wrapper and wet the edges. Place a heaping tsp of pork filling in the center, then fold the wrapper in half to make a rectangle. Press together the edges to seal it shut. Fold down the sealed top partway. Then, take the two folded edge corners and press them together. Add a tiny dollop of water before pressing together to help it stick.Set aside on the platter and repeat until all filling or wrappers are used up. Try to make it come out even, but often you'll have leftovers.
- To cook your wontons, heat oil in the bottom of a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. (You may need multiple pans and/or multiple batches to cook the wontons.)
- Once the oil is hot and shimmering, add the wontons in a single layer to the bottom of the pan. Allow to cook undisturbed for 1-3 minutes or until the bottoms start to get brown and crisp.
- Add water to the pan and cover with a lid to steam for 5-8 minutes or wrappers are translucent and pork filling is cooked. Usually once the water is mostly gone is a good
- Add water to the pan and cover with a lid to steam 5-8 minutes. The exact amount of water needed may vary by quantity cooking and pan size, but you can always add more. I usually use ¼-⅓ cup for a 12-inch skillet. You can always remove a wonton and cut it in half to check the filling. You're looking for the skins to become translucent and the filling to be firm and resistant but not spongy or hard.Once most of the water has steamed the wontons, remove the lid and let the bottoms crisp back up. Serve warm with soy sauce.
- Once the water has steamed the wontons sufficiently, remove the lid and add a splash of oil back to the pan. Cook for another 1-3 minutes or until bottoms are nice and crisp and brown. Remove to a plate and serve immediately with soy sauce or sauce of choice.
3 Comments
cookie dough ice cream mochi; – tipsychocochip
October 3, 2016 at 10:18 am
[…] the sweet rice flour! I found mine at the Asian grocery (perfect excuse for making more wontons this weekend!) in the same area as regular rice flour, tapioca flour, etc. “Sweet rice […]
cookie dough ice cream mochi; | Best With Chocolate
July 26, 2023 at 4:20 am
[…] this recipe. I find mine at the Asian grocery store (perfect time to grab wonton wrappers and make pork wontons too!). It’s usually with the other flours like rice flour, tapioca flour, etc. But glutinous […]
ice cream mochi; | Best With Chocolate
July 26, 2023 at 4:23 am
[…] this recipe. I find mine at the Asian grocery store (perfect time to grab wonton wrappers and make pork wontons too!). It’s usually with the other flours like rice flour, tapioca flour, etc. But glutinous […]