In honor of AAPI month, I am posting this amazing shrimps, pork and chicken wonton recipe done the Vietnamese way! The umami of the fish sauce is what makes these little dumplings even more delicious. Trust me, adding fish sauce does make a difference and you will not taste it as it blends so marvelously with all the other ingredients! These wontons are so versatile that you can either eat them fried, stir fried, steamed or the classic way, which is boiled and add them into your favorite broth.
As an added bonus, they can be made in advance and be kept in the freezer for quite some time so whenever you don’t have time to cook or feel under the weather and are in need of some warm feel-good meal. It will take less than 15 minutes to put a delicious dish together. It is truly my mom’s favorite and she requests it every time I go back to Montréal to visit my family. I would reserve a whole day making dumplings by tripling this recipe!
PRO TIPS ON HOW TO MAKE SHRIMPS PORK & CHICKEN WONTONS
Blending the vegetables: I have used both my blender and food processor to mince my vegetabes on separate occasions. I do not find there was a significant difference using one or the other. If you do not have a blender or food processor, you can finely chop and mince each vegetable manually, it will just take a bit more time.
Letting the vegetable mixture cool: Once the vegetables are cooked, I highly recommend to let them cool before adding them to the shrimp, pork and chicken mixture. If you add them while they are still hot, you will cook the shrimps.
Adding cornstarch into the filling: The cornstarch will help bind the filling together. Some people use an egg to help their filling bind. I’ve tried it and I personally prefer using cornstarch because I could taste the difference between using the two ingredients. Once cooked, cornstarch gives a nicer texture to the filling.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What’s the difference between wontons and dumplings? Wontons are a sub-category of dumplings. The big difference is that wontons are made with thin square wrappers and dumplings are made with round and slightly thicker wrappers.
How to cook wontons? The classic way is to boil them. In a pot, bring water to a boil. The wontons will be cooked once they float on top. Drain the wontons in a colander. I just love to boil them and put the wontons in bone broth with some bok choy, garnished with chopped scallions and drizzle with some chili oil.
How to store dumplings? They should be stored in the freezer up to 3 months. To cook frozen dumplings, simply take them out of the freezer to room temperature for a few minutes and cook them in boiling water until they float or stir fry them until the wrappers are golden. However, do not thaw wontons by putting them in the fridge or thaw them completely at room temperature; they will release water and stick together.
HOW TO WRAP WONTONS
There are multiple ways of wrapping wontons. The steps below show how I usually wrap them with square wonton wrappers. Personally, I find it is the easiest way I found to wrap them and come out nicely once cooked.
- Add lukewarm water in a small bowl.
- Lightly wet all sides of the wonton wrapper.
- Put one small spoonful of filling into the middle of the wrapper. Avoid overfilling as they may come undone or the wrapper may break during cooking.
- Fold the wrapper in half diagonallly by bringing one corner to the opposite corner. Ensure that all sides are well folded by pressing the sides to avoid the filing from coming out when you cook them.
- Lightly wet the two opposite corners, bring them together and fold them by putting one corner on top of the other.
- To summarize:
How to wrap dumplings with round wrappers? Similarly to the square ones:
- Lightly wet the edge around the wonton wrapper.
- Place one small spoonful of filing in the middle of the wrapper. Do not overfill.
- Fold the wrapper in half to form a semi-circle.
- Lightly wet the two edges and wrap one edge around the other.
Equipment
- Food processor Optional
- Stir frying pan
- Mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 2 packs of wontons wrappers (each pack contains about 60 wrappers)
- ½ lb ground pork
- ½ lb ground chicken
- 1 lb shrimps minced
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 3 cups mushrooms chopped
- 3 cups napa cabbage chopped
- ¼ cup scallions chopped
- 3 TBSP ginger
- 3 cloves garlic
- ⅓ cup cornstarch
Fillings seasonigs
- 3 Tbsp fish sauce
- 3 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients for the filling seasonings and set aside.
- In a food processor or blender, mince chopped napa cabbage and mushrooms, scallions, minced ginger and garlic. You can also mince manually.
- In a stir fry pan, heat olive oil under medium heat. Add the minced vegetable mixture and stir fry until soft. Set aside and let it cool down.
- In a second mixing bowl, add ground pork, chicken and minced shrimps. Add the cooled stir fried vegetables.
- Add the filling seasonings and mix everything together. Add cornstarch and mix once more. It should look like this:
- Wrap wontons by wetting the sides with a bit of water, place a small amount of filling in the middle and fold in half as a semi circle if the wrapper is round or diagonally as a triangle if the wrapper is square. Lightly wet the edges of the wrapper and join them together.
