Bao Buns
Vivian Chan-Tam
92 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
92
2 hours 25 minutes
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Coarsely chop the shrimp into ½-inch pieces, then toss with ½ teaspoon salt in a colander until evenly coated. Let stand while preparing the remaining filling ingredients. This will both flavor the shrimp and draw out the excess moisture so that they end up snappy in the cooked wontons.
Using a ginger grater or Microplane, finely grate 2 teaspoons ginger into a large bowl. Using your fingers, press the grated ginger to squeeze out 1 teaspoon ginger juice; discard the solids. Stir in the pork, scallions, cornstarch, oyster sauce, wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, pepper and 1 teaspoon salt until evenly mixed. Using a paper towel, pat the shrimp very dry. Add to the pork and stir until evenly distributed.
Set up an assembly line for forming wontons by placing the bowl of filling next to the wrappers and a small dish of water and lining a sheet pan with parchment for the wrapped wontons. If a wrapper tears over the filling during assembly, it can be discarded.
To shape wontons for wonton soup: Place a heaping spoonful of filling near one corner of a wrapper. You want to try to get as much filling in there as possible, about a tablespoon, but you can start with a smaller amount for easier folding. Using your fingertip, wet the wrapper corner nearest the filling, then fold that corner over the filling to enclose it, pleating the wrapper around the filling and pressing that corner just past the center of the remaining wrapper. You should end up with a bump of enclosed filling and a pleated tail of wrapper. Place on the prepared pan and repeat with the remaining filling and wrappers.
To shape wontons for deep-frying, place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of the wrapper. Using your fingertip, wet the borders of the wrapper, then fold it in half to form a rectangle or a triangle, encasing the filling and making sure there are no air pockets around it. Take two corners on the long side and bring them together to meet in the center over the filling, using water if needed to make the corners stick and hold. Place on the prepared pan and repeat with the remaining filling and wrappers.
Once you’ve filled all of the wontons, you can prepare as many as you’d like immediately, boiling them for soup or deep-frying for a snack. The rest can be frozen uncovered on the sheet tray until solid, about 2 hours. Transfer them to an airtight container and freeze for up to 2 months. Cook straight from the freezer, adding a few minutes of cooking time.
A video to show how to complete the folded over corner would be very helpful. I can’t quite see it.
There are a few videos and/ or step by step photo instructions out there. These are from cooking websites that I normally use: https://thewoksoflife.com/how-to-fold-wontons/ (Woks of Life) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrjFoOddNk8 (Hot Thai Kitchen) My tip is to find the easiest method for yourself since you'll be making 50 to 60 of these and it can be mind numbing. Better yet make this a family project. Kids in particular may find this memorable.
There are lots of videos: I liked this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wUiwMOa-BI
For the ginger, I cut 3 pieces to fit into my garlic press and squeezed the ginger juice out very easily, I needed more like 3 inches of ginger to get a full tablespoon.
has anyone found a recipe (or a manufactured version) for gluten free wonton wrappers? oh, how i would love to be able to enjoy this wonderful delicacy..."asking for a friend! (^8" and thanks!
I made the wontons with vegan wrappers as that is all the grocery had. In addition to bok choy, I added mushrooms and red bell pepper to the soup. Next time I'll add snow peas or sugar snaps too. I made extra stuffing that I plan to shape into balls, pan fry and serve with mint leaves, thin cucumber slices, lettuce wraps and Vietnamese dipping sauce.
These wontons are delicious, but folding them is difficult if doing it by oneself. The directions say to try to get as much filling in as possible, but you really don’t want to do that if you’re a beginning wonton folder like me. It’s much easier to fold them into the circular shape if they aren’t overfilled. I ended up shaping half of mine as simple triangles, which was much easier and just as delicious.
My husband is from Hong Kong, and we make some with shrimp and pork and some with just ground pork (I don't eat seafood). We used ginger paste because we were out of fresh ginger, and we added a big bunch of finely chopped fresh cilantro and green onions (and soy and sesame oil, etc.). Customize flavors to your taste. They boil in about 4-6 minutes. Add chili crisp to your dish if you like it spicy!
We made these and loved them! Wicked awesome recipe. We watched a you tube video to learn how to shape them. Can't overstate how delish they are!
Made Wonton soup for the first time using this recipe. Everyone raved about the flavor. It's very important to chop the shrimp quite fine to avoid lumps that make folding the wontons more difficult. Also, if this is your first time folding them, expect to lose a few in the learning process. The folding looks simple in the videos, but it takes practice!
These wontons are delicious, but folding them is difficult if doing it by oneself. The directions say to try to get as much filling in as possible, but you really don’t want to do that if you’re a beginning wonton folder like me. It’s much easier to fold them into the circular shape if they aren’t overfilled. I ended up shaping half of mine as simple triangles, which was much easier and just as delicious.
Is there a reasonable substitute for shrimp? As a person with an allergy to shrimp, I would have to skip over this recipe.
Folding these was a really delightful family activity with delicious results. Added chopped water chestnuts which complemented the shrimp really nicely.
Followed the recipe exactly except didn't have light soy sauce so used regular. Made the wonton wrappers from scratch, loved learning how do that and very satisfying process. I found the filling a little bland, so much so that I looked back to see if I had missed an ingredient. They were good, just not remarkable. Family leaned heavily on the condiments to add some flavor. If I make again, I'd double the oyster sauce and soy sauce.
There is a video of the folds she describes on @nytcooking on Instagram
to wrap: (you shld have a rect. wrapper) A - B C - D i used the flat top end of a spoon to paste a small bit dough out onto the middle of the wrapper don't be overzealous with the filling -- too much and the wonton won't come together wet the bottom edge (CD) and fold the top edge (AD) over (now a rectangle) + press together wet one of the top corners (A or B) and bring both top corners to meet in the top middle. this should gather the entire wonton toget. let me know if this makes sense!
How long do you boil these?
Nothing on dipping sauce? Crucial aspect of this adventure. Separate piece just on various dipping sauce variations would be super.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1023823-fried-wontons?action=click&module=Collection%20Page%20Recipe%20Card®ion=Lunar%20and%20Chinese%20New%20Year&pgType=collection&rank=6
I like adding water chestnuts, bamboo shoots n mushrooms chopped in this mix because I like an outy inny crunch. I do them also w tofu no meat or shrimp.. firm not extra..and then make a fresh sweet and sour unless I am dropping in soup.
For the ginger, I cut 3 pieces to fit into my garlic press and squeezed the ginger juice out very easily, I needed more like 3 inches of ginger to get a full tablespoon.
I made the wontons with vegan wrappers as that is all the grocery had. In addition to bok choy, I added mushrooms and red bell pepper to the soup. Next time I'll add snow peas or sugar snaps too. I made extra stuffing that I plan to shape into balls, pan fry and serve with mint leaves, thin cucumber slices, lettuce wraps and Vietnamese dipping sauce.
has anyone found a recipe (or a manufactured version) for gluten free wonton wrappers? oh, how i would love to be able to enjoy this wonderful delicacy..."asking for a friend! (^8" and thanks!
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