PORK & PRAWN WONTONS WITH DRY NOODLES AND BBQ PORK

I love wontons and BBQ pork! Unfortunately, my husband doesn't! So I only cook them every so often for myself. I make a batch and freeze them for another day. It takes quite a long time to make the dish but it's worth it!!! Love it!

DRY WONTON NOODLES

INGREDIENTS:

Salt, to taste

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 bunch choy sum or gai lan, washed well

A handful of beansprouts

12 Pork and Prawn Wontons (see recipe below)

4 cups fresh thin egg noodles

4 Tbsp garlic oil

250 gr BBQ pork, sliced (see recipe below)

Spring onion, to garnish

Soy sauce and sliced red chillies, to serve (optional)

Noodle sauce

1 tsp caster sugar

1 Tbsp oyster sauce

2 Tbsp light soy sauce

1 Tbsp dark soy sauce

METHOD

Combine the noodle sauce ingredients and mix well. If the sugar does not dissolve completely, heat the sauce briefly in a small saucepan or in the microwave, but do not bring to the boil.

Bring 3-4 litres of water to a rolling boil in a large saucepan and season with salt. Add the oil to the water.

Boil the choy sum or gai lan for about 1 minute, until tender, then drain well and slice into 5cm lengths, discarding the root end.
Blanch the beansprouts for 30 seconds, drain and set aside.
Boil the wontons for 4 minutes (5 minutes if frozen), drain and set aside.

 

Boil the noodles in individual serves for 1 minute each or until al dente.

Drain well and transfer to a large bowl.
Toss each serve of noodles together with a few beansprouts and a tablespoon each of the prepared Noodle sauce and the Garlic oil.

Transfer the noodles to a plate and top with a few slices of BBQ pork, the wontons and some greens.

Serve with a garnish of spring onions and sliced red chillies in a little in a little soy sauce if you like.

 
Serves 4

PORK AND PRAWN WONTONS 

INGREDIENTS:
50 squares wonton wrappers

For fried wontons
Vegetable oil for deep frying

Your favourite chilli sauce, to serve

For boiled wontons
Hot chilli oil
Chinkiang black vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
Chopped chives, to serve
Filling
500 g pork mince (or 500 g roughly chopped pork belly)
200 g raw prawn meat, roughly chopped
3 large spring onions, white and light green parts, trimmed and finely chopped
1 Tbsp minced ginger
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp Shaoxing wine
1/2 tsp caster sugar

METHOD
Using a wooden spoon and a spatula mix together the filling ingredients vigorously for about 5 minutes, stirring in one direction only (rather than a bowl, I prefer to use a large heavy-based saucepan for this as the handle and vertical sides make it easier to stir the heavy mixture).

Set aside to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
To make the wontons, take a wonton wrapper and moisten the edge with a finger dipped in cold water. Place a teaspoon of filling in the centre and fold two corners together to form a triangle, taking care to remove as much air as possible.

Pinch the edges together firmly to create a sealed packet. 

Moisten one tip of the long side of the triangle and bring the other tip of the long end onto the moistened part.
Pinch together firmly.

Continue until all the filling is used up, then place the completed wontons on a tray lined with baking paper.

Refrigerate for 15 minutes. 

If you are not cooking them immediately, put the wontons in the freezer.

When they are well frozen, transfer to a large freezer bag (taking care not to break the tips of the pastry).

The frozen wontons can be boiled straight away from the freezer for about 5 minutes until they are cooked through.

I also made some potstickers to try them out instead of deep-frying the dumplings.

To cook, heat 2 tsp oil in a non stick pan over medium high heat. Add dumplings, pressing down firmly to flatten the base onto the pan. Cook around 8 to 10 per batch.

When the base is golden brown (check them), add 1/2 cup of water into the pan and cover immediately with a lid.  

Cook for about 7 minutes or until the pleats are cooked through, adding more water if they get dry.

Remove lid but leave the pan on the stove until the bottom of the pan is totally dry and the dumplings are again crisp in the bottom.

Transfer to a serving plate. 

To cook the unfrozen wontons, you can deep-fry them in 170C oil for 2-3 minutes until golden brown, or boil them in plenty of salted water for 4 minutes until soft and cooked through.

Serve the deep-fried wontons with chilli sauce or dress boiled wontons with a little Hot Chilli Oil and vinegar and scatter with chives.

Makes about 50 wontons.