Wontons

By Crivenica

It’s natural to miss the food from your home country when you live abroad. I crave Indonesian food daily, but I manage to fulfill that craving by learning to cook my favorite dishes. One of those dishes is chicken noodle with wontons or mie ayam pangsit in Indonesian.

Bakmi Chopin, Jakarta

When I was living in the US with Louise, we used to make chicken noodle and wonton all the time. We could find the fresh wet noodle in a nearby Asian market so all we had to do was to make the chicken and mushroom topping and the wonton filling (ready made wonton skins were also available). But now living in Nepal, those important elements are not available. I’ve only found dried chinese noodles, which I’ve tried to use. It didn’t taste right. So, while I’m still in Kathmandu, I’ve settled with only making the wontons. I’m not ambitious enough yet to tackle the feat of noodle making.

Me, frying some wonton skin

Louise and I have been making wontons for years. Annette, on the other hand, has just started to really cook when she moved to Norway a year and a half ago. We always knew she had the cooking gene like the rest of us, but she just didn’t find herself in a situation where she had to cook until she moved away. This just shows when you desperately want to eat something, you make it happen. Anyway, when she succeeded in making wontons, apparently she boasted to Louise that her wontons were the best. Louise told me about it and she said, “there’s no way. My wontons are the best.” I will admit that Louise’s wontons are great. Annette’s wontons, I haven’t tasted. However, knowing her good palate when it comes to Asian food, I’m sure her wontons are excellent. But I must say, since I not only make my own wonton filling, but also my own wonton skin, it’s just fair to claim that my wontons are the best. ^_^

My wonton soup

Here’s my recipe for Wonton Soup. I don’t really use any measurement when I make this, so the measurements below are estimate.

Broth:
I simply boil chicken bones or chicken with bones in water. Add a little piece of ginger and seasoned with salt and white pepper. There are also many good chicken stocks available in the market that you can use if you want to cheat.

Filling:
1/2 pound total of equal mix of ground chicken and ground pork (if you don’t eat pork, just use the chicken)
1/4 pound of shrimps cut into little pieces
1/4 cup of chopped green onion
2-3 tbs of oyster sauce
2 tsp of sesame seed oil
1 tsp of sugar

Mix all the ingredients together. I tend to season this by feel. You can try dropping a small ball of filling into your boiling broth to taste. If it’s not salty enough, add another tablespoon of oyster sauce.

Wonton Skin:
1 cup of high protein/gluten flour
1/2 tsp of salt
1 egg yolk
1/4-1/2 cup of water

Mix the flour and salt in a medium size mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour, add the yolk and part of the water. I usually don’t measure the water, so start with a part of the water and start stirring the flour mix, the water and yolk with a fork. Add more water as needed. You will need to use your hand to knead the dough as it gets harder to use the fork to mix the dough. We’re looking for an elastic consistency in the dough. When you have reach the point when the flour is all mixed in and the dough doesn’t stick on the mixing bowl, you’re done. If you still have any water left, scrap it.

To put together your wonton. Get a small ball of your dough (about the size of a large marble), with a roller press it into paper thin sheet on a flour dusted surface. Put a teaspoon of filling into the middle of the sheet and follow my instruction pictures. This recipe should make about 20-25 small wontons.





When you're ready to eat, bring your broth to a boil and drop these little suckers into the boiling broth and cook for about 10 minutes. Bok choy is great with the soup, so I usually would drop in some of those too. I also make fried wonton skin from the extra dough for my husband to crush into the soup.

Now keep in mind these are estimated measurements. I tend to taste as I cook, so I season dishes according to my palate. Try it to suit your own taste. Good luck!