Pork and Green Onion Wontons

Bridal showers allow for a lot of leeway when it comes to the food menu. Unlike weddings, traditions do not impose such a huge rule on you to include only certain dishes on the menu. You could go for the more informal, amalgamation of intercontinental recipes for the various courses present. Now, this may sound a little corny but here is a unique train of thought- a marriage usually signifies the union of two opposites, right? Then to symbolize this coming together of two extremes, why not represent it with the inclusion of both Western and Eastern savories on your bridal shower menu?

Here we talk about one such Eastern dish- the ever favorite Chinese import- Pork and green onion wontons (or referred to as dumplings!).

Bridal Shower dumplings

Mmm, just mentioning the words 'wontons' and 'dumplings' has set off a tremendous growling in my tummy! I just cannot write enough of how amazing these treats happen to be! Extremely easy to eat (you just need to pick them up and gobble them up, though for the less etiquette-deprived amongst us, slicing away at wontons with a knife and fork is much preferred), it happens to be scrumptious and if had immediately after steaming, wontons can very appetizing, to say the least!

This is especially true for pork and green onion wontons! Pork can be highly filling and when had with the crunchy little green onion bits, the taste takes you to seventh heaven in the blink of an eye!

However, this dish is reserved for some strong meat eaters. If you have some strict vegetarians on your bridal shower guest list, it would be appreciated if you tried to go for an alternative "veggie" wonton recipe in addition to the pork stuffed wontons. (Instead of grounded pork, you need to stuff the wontons with steamed veggie slices- carrot pieces, radish shreds, broccoli bits and green onion slices).

Pork and green onion wontons recipe / Pork and green onion dumplings recipe

So let us jump into the recipe for this mouth smacking goodie already! The following quantities listed for each ingredient are enough to prepare fillings for around twenty dumplings. Here are the ingredients:-

Ingredients

• About 20 empty wontons (available pre-packaged and prepared in advance)
• Grounded pork (about six to seven ounces)
• Finely chopped green onions (not more than a couple)
• Finely chopped garlic (about two cloves)
• Finely chopped ginger (about a teaspoon)
• Soy sauce (light, about a teaspoon)
• Vegetable oil to deep fry
• Salt and pepper (for seasoning)

Note : Green onions are also known as scallions, just in case your grocery store clerk and helpers give you a blank stare if you ask for green onions.

Procedure

You will be amazed to find out just how simple the procedure for preparing pork and green onions wontons is.

Step 1: Take a mixing bowl. Drop in your grounded pork ounces into it. Then add in the green onions bits, the chopped garlic cloves and one teaspoon each of chopped ginger and soy sauce. See to it that the mixture is not very dry. Add in extra soy sauce if needed. Just make sure you don’t go overboard and end up with a very sludgy filling.

Step 2: Start taking little pinches of the mixture (about a teaspoon or two would be enough) and drop them into the empty wonton skins. Mould each wonton to form the typical "pouch/ onion shape" that dumpling usually appear in. (You may moisten the edges of the wontons with clean water to make it malleable).

Step 3: Next, take a frying pan. Pour in the vegetable oil and begin to heat the pan.

Step 4: Take around five or six wonton pouches at a time and carefully drop them on the frying pan. Cook them until they attain that crisp golden's brown color and the filling rises.

Step 5: Absorb the extra oil on each wonton with clean kitchen paper. Repeat the same frying procedure for the remaining, uncooked dumplings.

If you would like, tie slices of the left over green, stalk like parts of the green onions around the wontons to give off the appearance of little white packages tied up with green strings.

Serving dumplings

Arrange your cooked wontons on a tray, placed at the centre of a side table complete with tiny plates (for guests to place their wontons on), knives, forks, tissues and dip (red chilly schezwan sauce is the perfect dip for pork and green onion dumplings).

Keep in mind to prepare enough pork and green onion wontons to fill up the entire bridal shower guest list, or at least the meat loving portion of it. For you just cannot track how soon these little pouches are wolfed down by famished stomachs at the shower party!