I am utterly obsessed with dumplings. There’s just something so comforting about them. The soft silky wrapper, the juicy flavourful filling and the spicy umami from the chilli oil makes it an absolutely satisfying dish.
I love making any type of dumpling at home, mostly because I get to stuff them with as much filling as I can (without it bursting that is). Most dumplings sold in restaurants can never be as satisfying as what you can make at home.
Wantons, in particular is something I’ve been eating ever since I was a child, since my late mother LOVED wanton noodles. I remember how my brother and her used to eat them together a lot, and I would opt for curry noodles with wantons instead since I am (still) not a fan of wanton noodles due to the alkaline flavour.
This recipe was something I came up with the random ingredients available in my kitchen. I chose minced beef because my stomach seems to have some serious disagreements with minced chicken, however do try this with whatever minced meat you fancy.
I also use fish paste in all my dumpling fillings, just for flavouring and moisture retaining purposes since I always use lean minced beef. It also helps give the filling a better mouth feel.
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Difficulty level: 2/5
Ingredients
Filling:
- 1 kg minced beef
- 450g frozen chopped spinach
- 200g fish paste
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder/minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon mirin/cooking wine
- 1 tablespoon ginger powder/grated ginger
- Salt and white pepper to taste
Soup:
- 3 litres of water
- 1 cup scallions (chopped)
- Anchovy stock powder
- Salt, light soya sauce and white pepper to taste
- Wanton wrappers
- Chilli Oil
- Black Vinegar
Instructions
Squeeze liquid out of the spinach once defrosted, place in large container or mixing bowl.
Throw in the beef, fish paste into the spinach, mix well. Add in seasonings. Mix really well, till a little sticky and glue like in texture.
I’d suggest using a glove, and mixing it with your hands for best results. I usually squish the filling with my hands as if I’m playing with slime. The texture profile of the filling should be sticky, but not too mushy. You want to be able to see a little bit of chunk still.
I usually let this sit overnight in the fridge for flavour development, but it’s perfectly good if you want to use it right away. Just let it sit for about 10-15 minutes before filling then wanton wrappers with them.
Use a teaspoon to scoop the filling for consistency. Scoop the filling onto the middle of the wanton wrappers, wet the edges of the wrapper slightly with water and close them up by crimping the edges together.
To prepare to soup, add a tablespoon of oil into a pot, once heated, throw in scallions and saute them till lightly browned. Once browned, add in the anchovies (if you’re using dried anchovies instead of stock powder) and saute till fragrant. Once fragrant, add in the water (add in stock powder now if you’re using it), and bring to a boil.
Season the soup with soy sauce, salt and white pepper.
Once the soup is boiling, bring it down to a simmer. Place the prepared wantons into the soup. Once you see the wantons floating in the soup, they’re ready!
I have this habit of making a “trial” wanton to gauge the salt levels of the filling. Most of the time it is perfect, but some days I end up adding a little more salt or soy sauce. The trial wanton helps alot.
You can also deep fry these wantons if you prefer the fried version. Just fry them in hot oil till golden brown.
Serve the soup version of the dumplings with chilli oil and black vinegar. Garnish with scallions/spring onions.
You can also cook noodles in the soup and turn this dish into wanton noodle soup. I prefer eating these with on the drier side, with the chilli oil and black vinegar.
In the case of chilli oil, I’ve learnt to make my own. Lao Gan Man works great too if you have no homemade chilli oil.
Do email me at thehantamcook@gmail.com or reach out to me @thehantamcook on Instagram if you have questions!
Enjoy!
The Hantam Cook 