Veggie Wontons!

I am a meat eater but once in a while I want a break from all that meat. In general I'm trying to cut down on meat intake for health reasons.  However, dining in a Chinese restaurant, that is not vegetarian, leaves you with little options especially when you go out for Dimsum. Dumplings often  have either seafood or meat. Even home cooked dumplings are made with pork or chicken. My parents always say that dumplings MUST have meat and shrimp. Thankfully and not too long ago, I went to a restaurant called Dynasty in Richmond. They are famous for their steamed pork dumplings. No doubt, their dumplings are awesome. We always order them. On this day, I also noticed they had a steamed vegetarian dumpling on the menu. I ordered it as well as it piqued my curiosity. It was a dumpling made of veggies and ground tofu. I was very pleased with the flavour. It was mild, yet savoury and especially good when you dipped it in the vinegar-ginger sauce.

Today I attempted to make something similar but instead of dumplings I made wontons only because it's easier.  They were very tasty! In this photo the wontons are sitting in a bed of soy sauce and sesame oil. Yummy! They are soft and delicate with a bit of a crunch because I added in some chunky asparagus bits.  Below is the recipe if you'd like to try.  Here's to a healthier dumpling!

Ingredients:

4-5 cups of green leaf vegetables. (sounds like a lot but once you blanche them it is very little)
2-3 slices of ginger finely chopped
1 teaspoon of pureed garlic
1/2 carrot thinly sliced and diced.
2 thinly sliced shitake mushrooms.
1/2 pack firm tofu
1 pack wonton wrappers
 4 stalks of asparagus
4-5 tablespoons of Braggs or soy sauce
1/2 bundle of  cooked bean thread noodles


Saute the garlic, carrots, mushrooms and ginger in some olive oil until cooked. Add the greens and saute until wilted.

Put all items in a food processor. As the ingredients mix, add in the tofu and bean thread noodles. Slowly add the soy or Braggs sauce. Taste as you go along for flavour. The tofu is quite bland so the more the better.

You will end up with a fine paste almost like the consistency of hummus but a little rougher. Chop up your asparagus and saute lightly. Mix your paste with the asparagus. This speckled green and white stuff is your filling!

It's now time to wrap the wontons. Wonton wraps seem to have a side that has more flour. Place the flour side down. Put a dollop of  your paste in the center. You shouldn't put too much otherwise the filling will squeeze out of the wonton.  Wet the edge of a spoon with water and wet two edges of the wonton wrap.

 Fold the bottom corner up and match it to the top corner. The wet edge will make the two sides stick together. I like to crinkle the sides up into a sac. You can try different ways of wrapping up your wonton. It's also ok just to make a triangle.

Wontons need to be placed on a flat surface barely touching one another. The purpose is the freeze them in this manner before you put them into freezer bags for long term storage. If you don't do this they will stick. If you are eating them fresh, don't worry about it! Just pop them in a pot of boiling water. As long as the skin looks cooked they should be ready as the filling is precooked. If frozen, boil maybe 3-5 minutes.

I ate mine with a little soy sauce and sesame oil but in the restaurant they are served with a dipping sauce of dark vinegar and sliced ginger. Take your pick and enjoy!