A Numberless Recipe: The Filling
Despite my complete inability to cook (I’m afraid of heat–it took me quite a while to summon up the guts to open an oven door), my mom is one of the most excellent chefs I know. And she makes the most kick-ass wontons. I told her that I’d be interested in documenting the whole process and publicizing it and she was very pleased. Only problem was, she didn’t know how much of each ingredient she put into her recipe. So here it goes. The numberless recipe. I’ll try to put down some of my observations so as to try to estimate the quantities used.
Ingredients:
Chives (a big bunch)
Soy sauce (a little)
Salt (a little)
Cooking oil (a little… total: roughly 1 tablespoon)
Ground pork (roughly 1 pound)
Corn starch (roughly 1 tablespoon)
Directions:
So first you take a big bunch of Chinese chives (my mom says that Chinese chives are different from American chives… all I know is that the smell is so pungent that it makes my head spin). Wash it thoroughly and set it aside to dry. Note that if the chives are wet, then your wontons will end up all soggy. Below is how much chives my mom used.
Then you chop all of it into itty bitty pieces using a butcher knife. Put them into a bowl of some sort so your cutting board doesn’t clutter.
Take a large mixing bowl and put about 1 tablespoon of corn starch, a sprinkle of salt, and enough soy sauce to just cover the powder. Then add just a touch of cooking oil.
Mix it until it becomes a murky (but homogenous and smooth) brown mixture.
Take about 1 pound of ground pork and mix it in with the murky brown.
Put a handful or two of the chopped chives on top of the pork, add a sprinkle of salt, and a touch of cooking oil. Mix thoroughly.
Repeat for the entire stock of chopped chives.
And you’re done! Now all that’s left is the wonton-wrapping! See the next post for a pictorial tutorial (Hey! Alliteration!)!
Your mom obviously rocks!!!