This is Wontons Heaven!

Looking for wonton recipes?
Don’t know what a wonton is?
Don't know how to fold wontons?
Don’t know what goes into wontons?
Don’t know where to buy wonton wrappers?
Looking for different ways to serve wontons?
Looking for creative ways to use wonton wrappers?
Don’t know where wonton came from? China or Japan?

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You've come to the right place! You won’t find another website packed with so much information about wontons.

Welcome to Wontons Heaven!

Wontons are one of my favourite Chinese food and I liked them best in soups where the wonton skin is boiled to silky smooth and the wonton filling bursts with freshness and flavour in the mouth.

This little parcel of culinary delight enjoys an international reputation and it owes its global fame to the Cantonese (a dialect group originating from Guang zhou province and Hong Kong).

Origins

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As with many types of food, the origin of the wonton is difficult to trace. Many Chinese food come in small parcels. Northern Chinese cuisine has a lot of buns and dumplings.

Beside wontons, there is also the famous Cantonese dim sum like shrimp dumplings (or har gow / xia jiao), the rice dumplings (or zong zi), the buns (or man tou), the pot stickers (or guo tie).

In Mainland China, wonton is actually a Southern or Cantonese variation of “hun tun” which roughly means irregularly shaped pasta. Other name variations include Si Chuan's “chao shou”, and Taiwanese “Hua Lian bian shi”.

Because the Cantonese has taken their wonton all over the world, the name has since become more famous and well-known than “hun tun”, especially in the US and Europe.

While “hun tun” means irregular shaped pasta, wonton has a more poetic meaning … “swallowing clouds”. The thin wheat-based wrappers resemble clouds floating when they are cooked and served in soups.

There is a very interesting chapter on the culture, language and cuisine of the wonton in “Swallowing Clouds: A Playful Journey Through Chinese Culture, Language, and Cuisine. The author's personal wonton recipe is included.

"Wonton, like a number of Chinese foods,
should not be eaten in polite company.
They must be served piping hot and slurped down.
The smoothness of the wonton skin
as it slides own the throat must be savored."
~ Anthony Zee get a loan bad credit

What exactly is a wonton?

It is a bite-size small parcel made up of a paper-thin wheat-based sheet wrapped around a filling of minced meat with a variety of complementary ingredients.

The wheat-based sheet is known as wonton wrapper or wonton skin.

It is normally served in soups.

You can try to make the wonton wrappers yourself but it is hard work, as they have to be paper-thin and cut into uniform squares. It is much easier to buy them ready-made. They come vacuumed-packed in 50s or 100s.

Where to buy wonton wrappers?

They can be found in the refrigerated section(next to tofu, fresh noodles and etc.) in NTUC Fairprice and other major supermarkets in Singapore and Malaysia.

If you live in the U.S. or Europe, unless your city has a sizeable Asian population, you may have to try Asian specialty or grocery shops. Ask the shop assistants. Some shops sell freshly made ones and won't have them out on display.

Traditional wonton wrappers are squarish, although you can find some round ones nowadays. Different folding styles are easier with the square wonton wrappers. When purchasing round wonton skins, be careful not to mix it up with dumpling wrappers which are also round. These are for other types of Chinese food parcels such as siu mai (or shao mai), steamed dumplings (or jiao zi), and potstickers (or guo tie). Dumpling wrappers are thicker and chewy than wonton wrappers. You won’t get that silky melt-in-the-mouth heavenly experience with dumpling wrappers.

Wonton Filling

Although there are many recipes for wontons, the variations are mostly in the ingredients used for the wonton fillings. THE ingredient is ground pork. However, ground beef, chicken, prawns, fish and tofu are possible substitutes.

If you are going to substitute pork with beef, chicken, or lamb, you might want to introduce a little fat so that the filling won’t be dry. Chinese chefs usually add fatty pork to make the wontons juicier (now you know the secret).

I haven’t come across a recipe using butter as a fat substitute. I tried using margarine and the result wasn’t too bad. It didn’t have the margarine taste at all.

All ingredients must be minced or diced. Mix the ingredients together and season appropriately. Give the filling a good mix and leave to stand to marinate. Better still, cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge for about an hour. The filling mixture should be slightly wet and sticky. But not too wet.

How much filling should I use?

Good question. When I was still little and thought I was the cleverest kid around, I tried to save time by wrapping big wontons. The wonton skin broke while I was struggling to wrap it all up, and when I managed to wrap a big one without breaking the skin, the filling and the wrapper parted ways in the boiling water (maybe they were not meant to be together).

Moral of the story?

Don’t wrap big wontons … well, unless you’ve got super-sized wonton wrappers. The general rule of thumb is about 1 teaspoon.

Wrapping or folding a wonton

Do you know there are many ways to wrap or fold a wonton?

Different regions in China have their own unique ways of wrapping or folding wontons. I have 8 folding styles at my how to fold wontons page. Take your pick.

I came across a few wontons recipes that say to lay the won ton sheets out on a baking sheet, place the filling in the middle of each sheet and then wrap. I nearly fell off my chair. I wonder where they got the idea.

This method is fine for cookies and ravioli but it is a big No-No when wrapping or folding wontons. Wonton wrappers dry easily. After opening the wontons packet, they should be kept covered under a damp dishcloth. Take one piece out at a time to wrap. After wrapping, keep the wontons covered.

Wonton Soup

Wonton soup should be a clear light broth.

Try the recipes for wonton soups on my website. Or use some of my other soup stock recipes that are available in the Chinese soups stocks section, especially the chicken stock, pork stock, and vegetable stock.

Use your own soup stocks too. Just remember to avoid soup stocks that have strong flavours. The wonton soup should complement, not “fight” with the wontons for attention.

It would be nice to make a your own pot of wonton soup from scratch but not many people have the time. So, feel free to use ready-made soup stocks easily found in supermarkets or Asian grocery shops. There are so many to choose from. Try to choose those that have less salt and monosodium glutamate in them.

Wonton Dipping Sauces

Well-made wontons are good enough to eat on its own. However, some people (including me) still like to have some dipping sauces to go with our wontons. The simplest would be a little sweet chilli sauce. I always find the Maggi bottled sweet chilli sauce quite handy at home. When I am lazy, I just shake some out.

Unlike me, the people in the Szechwan (or si chuan) province take their wonton dip a bit more seriously. They serve their wontons in the dip. (Did I mention that Szechwan wontons are known as “chao shou”? ). Szechwan wonton dipping sauce is both fragrant and spicy hot. I found a few recipes for Szechwan wonton dipping sauce. Try them.

Wonton Soup Recipes

You won’t believe how many wonton recipes I have come across telling people to cook wontons straight in the wonton soups to be served.

Don't believe them! It is so wrong I feel like doing something nasty to the authors.

Imagine, all your hard work of folding or wrapping the beautiful wontons and making a good clear broth only to be “sabotaged” at the last moment.

Wonton soup and wontons must be cooked separately!

Won ton wrappers are covered with flour to prevent them from sticking together. If they are cooked directly in the soup, the flour will affect the flavour and texture of the soup.

Here's the proper way to cook wontons.

Cook the soup as directed by the recipe.

Bring another pot of water to the boil. Add a little oil.

Drop the wontons gently into the boiling water.
The wontons are done when they float to the surface of the water. Drain and transfer the won tons directly into soup bowls for serving (it is better to scoop the wontons out with a slotted spoon than to use a colander).

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When it is time to serve, pour the soup over the won tons and garnish as desired.

Throw in a few drops of sesame seed oil & white pepper before serving.

Check out my chinese recipes for wontons:

Who can resist crispy deep fried wonton recipes?

I'm digressing from Chinese soups to talk about deep fried wontons because Wontons heaven is incomplete without deep fried wontons.

Deep fried wontons can be as good as wontons in soup. Deep fried wontons make great party food. They are crispy, light and oh so “portable”. If you are throwing a party, why not make a big batch of crispy wontons for your guests. It would be a hit!

Wrap up a batch of wontons using your favorite fillings...or pick one from my recipe list. Instead of boiling them, heat up a wok of oil or “fire up” your deep fryer and fry them till golden brown. They are done when they float up to the top. Get a big round plate, spread the golden crispy wontons around leaving a gap in the middle for the dip bowl. Mayonnaise, Maggi chilli sauce, sweet and sour sauce, homemade dips, it's up to you!

Did you say you like eating wontons but don’t fancy wrapping them?

Buy ready-to-eat wontons!

Alright, I know you must be thinking how can ready-made wontons be yummy.

It is true that most ready-made wontons aren't very good but the CP line of shrimp soup wontons are surprisingly good. Exceeds my expectations.

I found a little picture of the box on the Internet.

I bought some for my little steamboat party during Chinese New Year. They were gone in a jiffy. I wouldn’t use them for steamboat again because they disappear into the soup and were hard to find.

CP stands for Charoen Pokphand, it is a Thai food company. Yup! You heard me right...a Thai company. Was there ever any doubt that Chinese did migrate to Thailand?

They boast whole white shrimp in each wonton and the absence of monosodium glutamate. Good news isn’t it? I’m not so sure of the soup base packet that came with it though. Well, we can always whip up our own yummy clear soup.

They are available in NTUC Fairprice in Singapore. They should be everywhere before long because I heard CP got a very good marketing company to work for them.

What else can you cook with wonton wrappers?

The wonton wrapper is so versatile that it can be made into all kinds of food other than wontons. This is good news for me because there are always some wonton wrappers left over when I make wontons. From ravioli, wonton cups, wonton twists, wonton rolls, to wonton salads. Go on, be inspired at my recipes using wonton wrappers page!

1. Serve wontons as appetizers!

Turn wontons into fabulous appetizers? It won't just be a starter, it will be the talk of the dinner table. Here are some ideas:

Serve smaller wontons in clear broth. It will open up the palate and start the stomach juices going. Start an interesting conversation as well.
Serve a cluster of wontons in a drinking glass. Drizzle a little sesame seed oil and garnish with some coriander leaves.
Serve the wontons deep fried with a little mayonnaise on the side.
Bake your cooked wontons topped with a little cheese.

Get more ideas at my recipes using wonton wrappers page.

2. Use wontons in main meals!

Wontons are featured in one of Hong Kong's most famous street food: the Chinese pork wonton noodle. It is also a common hawker fare in Singapore and Malaysia. The Chinese pork wonton noodle is typically made up of egg noodles, wontons, and barbecued pork / char siew (or cha shao).

The Hong Kong version is a noodle soup while the Singapore and Malaysia versions are noodles served dry with cut green chilli.

Add a few wontons the next time you cook noodles.

3. Serve wontons for desserts!

Most wonton recipes are savoury, not sweet. But, with some creativity, wontons can be made into sweet desserts to round off a good meal. I've some yummy ideas to transform wontons into delectable desserts. Check these wonton wrapper desserts out!

Cooking wontons together

When I was younger, making wontons is a family affair. Granny will mix up a big batch of wonton filling and we will sit around wrapping the wontons. It was great fun. We made a lot of noise as well as wontons.

I had a few parties while studying in Melbourne, mostly to do with food: steamboat parties, laksa night-out and wonton parties. Getting together to cook up a storm is good fun and a great way to bond with friends. Wontons are easy to make and cook together. Have a wonton party. Boil it, bake it, or fry it. Finally, eat it over rounds of games and sharing.

Oh oh, made too many wontons?

Chinese recipes for wontons almost always assume you are cooking for a family party, so the amount of ingredients is huge. If you are only thinking of making a dozen or so, consider downsizing the amount specified.

On the other hand, wontons are really easy to freeze and store.

Arrange your extra wontons on sheets of baking paper. One layer at a time. Please, do not stack! Place them inside the freezer. When they are frozen, remove and pack in ziplock bags. Return them to the freezer.

The only catch is that these frozen wontons can only be boiled or steamed. Do not thaw them. Drop them straight into boiling water.

Finally, we’ve come to the end. I hope you had fun at Wontons Heaven. I certainly did.

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