Wonton
Sunday, 30 June 2024 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Asia / AsienCategory/Kategorie: General, Bon appétit Reading Time: 6 minutes
Cantonese Wonton noodle soup © flickr.com – avlxyz/cc-by-sa-2.0
Wontons, which have their origins in China, has achieved significant popularity as a sought-after delicacy that is not only celebrated and enjoyed in East Asian cuisine, but also across various Southeast Asian culinary traditions as well.
Wontons are made by spreading a square wrapper (a dough skin made of flour, egg, water, and salt) flat in the palm of one’s hand, placing a small amount of filling in the center and sealing the wonton into the desired shape by compressing the wrapper’s edges together with the fingers. Adhesion may be improved by moistening the wrapper’s inner edges, dipping a fingertip into water, and running it across the dry dough to dissolve the extra flour. As part of the sealing process, the air is pressed out of the interior to avoid rupturing the wonton from internal pressure when cooked.
The most common filling is ground pork or chicken and shrimp with a small amount of flour added as a binder. The mixture is seasoned with salt, spices, and often garlic or finely chopped green onion. Factory-made, frozen varieties are sold in supermarkets. Commonly, they are handmade at the point of sale in markets or small restaurants by the proprietor while awaiting customers. In markets, they are sold by the unit without being pre-cooked.
Cantonese cuisine
In Cantonese cuisine, shrimp-filled wontons within minced pork are most commonly served with thin noodles in a steaming hot soup to make wonton noodles. It may also be consumed with red vinegar. The soup is made from boiling shrimp shells, pork bones, and dried flounder to give it a distinct taste. Wontons are served in a variety of sizes, with the smallest being two wontons and noodles called sai yung.
Sichuan cuisine
In Sichuan, semi-pentagonal wontons are known as “folded arms” since after initially folding the wonton skin into a right triangle, each end of the hypotenuse is pressed against the middle of opposite sides, creating an impression of crossed arms/hands. These are often served in a sesame paste and chili oil sauce as a dish called “red oil wonton”.
Shanghai cuisine
In Shanghai and its surrounding area (Jiangnan, nowadays Yangtze River Delta), wonton filling is most often made with minced meat (usually pork) and shepherd’s purse served in chicken soup; however, Shanghai cuisine makes a clear distinction between small wontons and large wontons. The former are casually wrapped by closing the palm on a wrapper with a dab of pork filling as if crumpling a sheet of paper. These are popular accompaniments to breakfast or brunch fare. The “large” wontons are carefully wrapped in a shape similar to tortellini, and a single bowl can serve as lunch or a light dinner. They are available with a large variety of fillings; a popular Shanghai fast-food chain offers more than 50 varieties. One popular variety in Shanghai that originated in Suzhou is “three delicacies wonton” (san xian hun tun), which contains pork, shrimp, and fish as primary ingredients.
Ningbo cuisine
Ningbo wontons come in two types, steamed wontons and wonton soup. Both are filled with pork and shrimp. These wontons became popular at many Chinese-American restaurants due to their traditional preparation.
Jiangzhe cuisine
Jiangsu are often called “wonton.” Wontons have two types, small wontons, and big wontons. Big wontons are a large ingot shape. Generally boiled, the soup will usually be matched with a thin egg omelette, seaweed, mustard greens, and shrimp.
American Chinese cuisine
In American Chinese cuisine (and occasionally in Canada as well), wontons are served in two ways: in wonton soup (wontons in a clear broth) and as an appetizer called fried wontons. Fried wontons are served with a meat filling (usually pork) and eaten with duck sauce, plum sauce, sweet and sour sauce, or hot mustard. A version of fried wontons filled with cream cheese and crab filling is called crab rangoon. Another version of fried wontons is filled with cream cheese, green onions, soy sauce, and garlic. Wonton strips, deep-fried strips made from wonton wrappers and served with hot mustard or other dipping sauce, are a common complimentary appetizer in American-style Chinese restaurants.
Read more on TheWoksOfLife.com – How to Make Wontons: Full Guide and Wikipedia Wonton (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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