Comfort food: Home-made Wontons

(makes approx 140)

There must be 101 versions of dumplings world-wide ~ a part of every culture and one of my favourite foods in the world! Coming from Hong Kong though, wontons are one of the basic comfort foods in life... especially as we make them in batch, freeze them and they're ready for a quick lunch or dinner, so easy and delicious.

Prep time: 15min
Wrapping time: 2hrs (think of it as in an investment!)

Ingredients:
600g pork mince
500g lean pork mince
500g raw prawns, de-shelled
1kg wonton pastry wraps 
4-5 bunches garlic chives
6-8 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked overnight
5 eggs + 1 egg (for wrapping)

6 tsp salt
6 tsp sugar
4 tsp potato starch
1 tsp white pepper (or more if you like)
4 T soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil

Method:
1. Finely chop the shiitake mushrooms, prawns and chives and mix in with the pork mince and eggs. Season with the salt, sugar, potato starch, pepper, soy sauce and sesame and let it sit for 1-2 hours (or overnight).

2. Before wrapping the wontons, lightly beat 1 egg in a small bowl (used to seal the wrappers).

3. To wrap the wontons, put 1 tsp of mixture into centre of the wrapper. Dab 2 adjacent edges with egg, then fold it in half (to make an isosceles triangle).

4. Hold the triangle with the tip facing away from you. Grab the 2 base corners and bring them together towards the middle (NB. this should puff out the meat a little). Dab a bit of egg on one corner and press them together. 

5. Once you've finished with one, put it on a glad-wrap lined tray (or grease-proof cake boards). When you've finished, you can put them into the freezer for 4-5 hours until they are hard. You can then bag them ready for a quick meal!

Making wonton soup noodles

(serves 1)

Once you have frozen (or fresh) wontons , this meal is a 15min quick fix! Totally my back-up when i get home late, feel lazy, sick, tired.. whatever excuse i can muster up to not want to cook properly but still eat something delicious :)

Ingredients:
1 (or 2) dried egg noodle clusters
1 bunch bok choy (if available)
8-10 wontons
2 C chicken soup (or 1 tsp chicken bouillon with 2 C water)
sesame oil
soy sauce
shallots, to garnish

Method:
1. Half fill a pot with boiling water. Place the wontons in for 5 minutes, or until they float. Add in 1/2 C cold water and bring back to the boil.
2. Meanwhile, in a separate pot, heat up the chicken soup (or make up the chicken bouillon with water).
3. Wash and cut the bok choy and cook in the chicken soup for 4-5min or until soft.
4. Remove the bok choy, then add the egg noodles and cook for 3 minutes. Test that it is cooked but still chewy!
NB. If you are using fresh egg noodles, then you should cook them in a separate pot of water and just drain the water as the flour makes the soup gluggy...

5. Season the soup with soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and finely chopped shallots then pour in with the noodles, dumplings and vegetables! Top with a handful of bean sprouts (optional) and sesame seeds and done!