Unwrapping the Dumpling: Shanghai Wontons
Wontons, potstickers, boiled dumplings. If you think that these are all different names for the same thing, then this is for you! Each of these styles of dumplings have different characteristics and cooking styles and throughout this series that we’re calling/Unwrapping the Dumpling/, we’re going to take a deeper look into the many types of dumplings out there and what makes them unique.
This week: Shanghai Wontons.
Introduction
The wrapping technique and look of our Shanghai Wonton is starting to become a little of a lost art. Aside from the fact that the technique itself takes longer to fold each individual piece, it’s also harder to find the wrapper to do it by yourself, so unless people are able to create the wrapped on their own, they're harder to find in stores.
Our Shanghai Wontons are fairly light. They're made with ground pork with some seasoning and bok choy. Generally, people like to eat this with sauces like a spicy oil sauce or even just soy sauce. You can also serve this in a broth like chicken broth with ground pork and garnished with more bok choy so you have a well-rounded meal.
Wrapper & Folding Technique
The Shanghai Wonton wrapper tends to be a little bit thinner and it usually comes in a square (or a trapezoid to be exact). If you've seen our Shanghai Wontons, you'll have noticed that each individual dumpling has two corners at the front of the dumpling. This can't be recreated with circular wrappers, which is also why it's becoming more of a lost art. The square wrapper (especially a trapezoid shape) is less common and it's harder for those who want to practice folding this technique.
The folding technique itself is also complex and it requires a bit of practice to get it right. The filling is placed on the middle of the wrapper and then it is folded in half so that the corners meet. You now have one half with filling and the other half just wrapper. Fold the half with just the wrapper so that it's about halfway and meets the meat half. Then with the two corners from the meat half, fold them towards the front so that the two corners are touching. This should naturally get the other two corners to stand up.
But why read those instructions several times over and still not understand how to do it? Here's a video that shows you how to do it (the video's in Mandarin, but you can see the wrapping in action.)
Cooking Instruction
Cooking Time: 15min
The quickest and easiest way is to serve the dumplings in soup. We recommend using a soup base like chicken broth, served with vegetables and noodles.
Bring the water or broth to a boil.
Put the desired amount of wontons into the boiling water or broth.
Let the wontons simmer in the boiling water for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. DO NOT put the lid on the pot, as the wrapper of the wontons is delicate and covering the pot will cause the skin to overcook and break.
With about 5 minutes left, you can put the vegetables into the broth to cook. Noodles can also be put in at this time, but we recommend cooking the noodles in a separate pot and rinsing it with water (as opposed to cooking it all in the same pot) so that it has a better consistency for the soup.
Pour contents into a bowl and serve. Enjoy!
Come by our store in Richmond and grab a bag of Shanghai Wontons today. We also sell the square wrapper if you wanted to practice the art of the folding arm technique!