Too Many Vegan Wontons
Or maybe the perfect amount
I haven’t been innovating a lot recently. I actually have barely been cooking recently due to family things that have been going on for the last month or so that have necessitated a pretty irregular diet. I worked this one out before though, and it is truly quite delicious. I have been using it to make wonton noodle soup, which I got an inexplicable craving for a few months ago. Basically I wanted wonton noodle soup, but Noah is not into shrimp at all, and all the wontons I saw at the store had shrimp so I figured I would make my own that were filled with tofu instead. I didn’t see a ton of vegan wontons online, and the ones that I did see didn’t look like what I wanted anyway, so I decided to try my own recipe. I was really pleased with how well they turned out, they’re very flavorful, the texture is good. It’s a lot of work (I think it took me an hour and a half, maybe two) but when you’re done you do have a huge amount of wontons! I recommend this as a sort of leisurely weekend activity. Filling the wontons is challenging if you, like me, have never done it before. I recommend not doing what I did and starting erring towards under-filling them. If you have leftover mix I think that it would be really good if you add some panko and fry it as pancakes.
Note: I use 5 spice tofu for this. It’s also called pressed tofu, it’s very easily available at Chinese grocery stores. It is very dense and brown. It’s used traditionally in a lot of Chinese vegetarian meat substituting dishes (unlike regular tofu which I feel like you see less in those dishes). It has a dense but slightly spongy texture. It freezes very well and thaws easily so I like to buy a couple bricks and store some in the freezer. Extra firm tofu would not be a good substitute for this, pressed tofu is significantly firmer and has a very different texture. If you can’t find it I suppose you could try taking extra firm tofu and pressing it (and adding more seasoning, like a pinch of five spice powder and more MSG), or looking at the flavored cutlets that they sell at some grocery stores, but I always recommend a trip to a Chinese grocery store because I love grocery shopping, and you need wonton wrappers anyway.
Vegan wonton filling
Makes about… 88 wontons
1 lb firm tofu
3 blocks (each of mine was just over 2 oz) 5 spice tofu (divided)
3/4 tsp ground white pepper
1 tbs shaoxing
1.5 or 2 tbs light soy sauce
1/2 tsp MSG
1.5 tsp grated ginger
3/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs vegan oyster sauce
1/3 cup chinese chives (scallions would be fine too I am sure)
4 baby bok choy
2 tbs neutral oil or scallion if you have some
2 tbs corn starch
1 lb (yes really) of wonton wrappers (I used the square ones that are egg free but have added yellow color)
This has many parts. First, I made chive oil, which honestly probably isn’t necessary, but if you have scallion oil, use that for the oil, it would be better and more flavorful. Chive oil was sort of a wash.
Halve bok choy and wash well. Blanche for 3 minutes. Set aside to cool down. Squeeze out as much water as you can. Set aside.
In food processor blend: firm tofu and 2 blocks of 5 spice tofu until a paste forms. Some texture is okay. Put into a bowl. Add all the seasonings (white pepper, shaoxing, soy sauce, MSG, ginger, sugar, salt, oyster sauce, oil) and corn starch, mix.
Then process: 1 cake of pressed tofu, chives, and bok choy. Pulse until the vegetables are very finely chopped and the tofu is kind of like… large sand? Small stones? Basically it will have a bit of texture but not be huge.
Add that to the goop and mix. Taste for seasoning, etc. You may wish for more MSG or sugar.
Find wonton filling instructions that work for you. I used the bonnet style demonstrated by the woks of life here.
Place them so they are just touching but not pressed against each other or overlapping on one or more likely two sheet pans. You may wish to cover with a slightly damp towel as things get going so they don’t dry out. I did, no idea if it matters.
Freeze for a few hours, then gently separate and put into a gallon sized freezer bag.
To make wonton soup
(serves two)
3 or so cups of broth (I have used chicken broth, if you’re vegan obviously don’t) and maybe a half cup of water
A scallion or two, smashed and sliced into inch long chunks
Splash of shaoxing
Pinch white pepper
Pinch of sugar
A few slices of ginger
Bit of light soy sauce
Simmer together for a half hour or so, until it tastes good. To be honest the broth has been the weakest part of this recipe.
To finish
One or two bundles of wonton noodles
10 or so wontons
A couple scallions finely sliced, maybe a bit of cilantro if you have it
In a separate pot, boil noodles according to package, then remove noodles from the pot to strainer (keep the water if you can to save time). Separate noodles into bowls for eating. Cook wontons, add them gently to the water, cook until they float, it only takes about two minutes. You can temp them if you’re concerned about having frozen wonton. Remove gently to the strainer, separate into bowls. Put broth over the bowls. Add scallions and maybe cilantro. Tastes good with chili oil!
Also a nice addition is choy sum with seasoned stuff. You can see it in the terrible picture that I took for my korean class above. I had to write a story about food that I made.
Choy sum with seasoned stuff
I also blanched and halved some choy sum, and poured over the top a crunchy garlic ginger thing that I made. I didn’t write down what was in it but I think it was something like this:
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon or so ginger
2 tablespoons peanut or scallion oil
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Splash of soy sauce
Splash of shaoxing
Pinch of white pepper
Blanch choy sum for about two minutes, remove to drain a bit.
Make oil: in a small pan over medium low cook garlic and ginger in the oil until starting to get crispy. Err on the side of low heat so they get crispy without getting burned. Then add everything else and stir.
Remove choy sum to place, add oil over it. Eat with wonton noodle soup if desired.