Steamed wontons with spicy ginger sauce | vegan
We love dumplings! We love them so much that we don't mind spending hours and making them from scratch. They are so versatile, you can fill them up with anything you want, steam them, fry them, boil them, add them to a soup or eat them on their own. They're amazing, they're beautiful, they're perfect.
Servings: makes about 50 dumplings
Preparation of dough sheets: 1 hour
Preparation of the filling and dumplings: 1,5 hour
Preparation of the sauce: 15 min
Steaming: depends on the size and the number of your steamers, but aim for about 5 min per batch
Ingredients for the dough*:
350 g all-purpose wheat flour
100 g durum wheat flour + extra for dusting
about 1 cup of water (don't add it all at once, better adjust it in the end, otherwise the dough can turn too moist)
* Alternatively, you can buy ready-made wonton wrappers. It will save you a lot of time.
Ingredients for the filling:
1 cup soy minced meat + 2 cups hot water 3 small stalks of celery** 13 shiitake mushrooms*** 1 medium onion 15 canned water chestnuts
3 medium carrots 2 cloves garlic vegetable oil 5 Tbsp soy sauce 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp smoked paprika powder 1/2 tsp ground coriander 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1/2 tsp ginger powder 1 tsp black pepper
** We used a regular celery, but if possible use Chinese celery, works much better in dumplings.
*** Use fresh or dried ones. If dried, then soak them in hot water for 30 min prior use.
Ingredients for the sauce:
1 spring onion
2 cm freshly grated ginger
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 Tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1 Tbsp agave nectar
1 clove garlic
5 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp rice vinegar
Preparation of the dough:
Mix all the dough ingredients in a blender. You don't need a blender, but I find it much easier to blend the ingredients lightly.
Remove the ingredients from the blender and start working on it with your hands. Dust the table top with durum and knead the dough for about 5 min until there are no lose pieces and the dough can be shaped into a ball. If it's still crumbling, add more water. If it's too wet and it's sticking to the table, add more flour or durum and knead to work the flour in it.
For the actual sheet/wrapper making we used a pasta machine, but it's optional:
If you're using a pasta machine, just pinch a smaller piece of dough from the ball, flatten it a bit and put it through the machine using the widest gap. Gradually, tighten the gap and let the dough through there again and again until you reach the second to last thickness number (we actually made it the thinnest, and it was a bit too thin, some of the sheets broke while being filled). When you have long thin sheets, cut them with a knife to squares and put aside.
If you're not using a pasta machine, pinch a smaller piece of dough and start flattening it with a rolling pin. Try to roll out a long rectangular shape. When the dough is very thin, cut it into squares and put it aside.
WARNING: if you're planning to pile the sheets (to save space), make sure you dust the top of every sheet with flour before putting another sheet on top of it; otherwise, your sheets will stick to each other and your precious work will be ruined. Also, make sure to cover the sheets with a kitchen towel so they don't get too dry.
Preparation of the filling:
Place soy meat in a bowl and pour 2 cups of hot water on top. Let it soak for 10 min.
Chop the celery, shiitake mushrooms and onion really finely.
Finely grate the water chestnuts and carrots.
Crush the garlic.
Heat up a pan with some vegetable oil. Add the chopped onions and crushed garlic. Fry them a bit and then add the mushrooms. Fry for a couple of minutes and add the soaked soy meat.
Add all the spices. Mix well. Fry until the mixture is not watery anymore and the mushrooms are soft. Remove from heat.
Pour the mixture to a bowl and add the celery, carrots and water chestnuts to the mixture. Mix in well. Adjust the spices if needed.
Preparation of the sauce:
Finely chop the spring onion, grate the ginger, crush or finely chop the garlic. Add these ingredients to a bowl.
To the same bowl add the rest of the sauce ingredients and mix everything well.
Let it sit in room temperature for at least 10 min before serving.
Preparation of the dumplings:
Take one sheet of dough.
Place about a tablespoon of filling in the middle. If the wrapper is breaking, reduce the amount of filling. Just adjust it to the size of your wrappers. It will be easier after a few dumplings.
Dip a finger in water and run it over the edges of the wrapper. Bend the wrapper in half to form a triangle shape. Pinch the edges tight and then connect two furthest corners together (wet it a bit, if it doesn't hold). You will get dumplings looking like the ones in the picture. Otherwise, you can make them in any shape you desire.
Prepare your steamer. The dumplings will stick to it, so make sure you put baking paper in the bottom. You need to make holes in it, so the steam can go through it to the dumplings. Place the dumplings in the steamer and steam for about 5 min.
Serve it hot with the spicy ginger sauce.
