Recipe: Chinese Wonton (雲吞) + instruction video
This is my third cooking video - teaching you how to make Chinese wonton - and I am starting to get the hang of it. Find my previous videos here: Chinese dumplings and Chinese fried sesame balls.
I am not sure if it is the Chinese upbringing, but it feels a bit weird to order my mom around like a strict movie director. She used to do that to me a lot, so it feels a bit like I am sneakily taking revenge (but I am absolutely not abusing my power in any way). I am also a lot more relaxed about it, as I have been able to let go of my pent up anger as the constant harrassment coming from people around me is no longer present. I got to the point that I am starting to understand why people hurt other people, either they are hurt by others themselves, they need to bully someone first so that they won't be the target, or they are just neglected so much that they need to do something to feel some kind of emotion. Neglection and psychological mind games such as making someone look like a bad person in a group are a way of harming someone too (invincible wounds are wounds too).The people that screamed the loudest and were the meanest actually were the most damaged ones. I was so busy surviving on my own that I just couldn't see it. Being singled out is dangerous as people like to step on people who are weak and vulnerable, unable to fight back, especially when the majority seems to be hating them and nobody would stand up for them. It is human nature. We all don't want to admit we are someone like that, but we all are. Human beings are flawed and we can't see everything or know what people are really thinking. Being a good person living by the rules feels bad, when nobody else seems to be doing it, but it is like a prisoner's dilemma. If everyone is bad, the world would be a mess. If everyone is good, we all just get the same, but humble reward. If you are bad, while everyone isn't, you can steal everyone elses share. But as a Chinese saying goes: When you eat everything on your own, you won't gain meat. I think it means something as being selfish may make you happy at the moment, but the loss of friends and family will make you so depressed that you will lose weight. If we all just humbly eat our own bowl of wonton soup (and not stealing all the wontons of the one sitting next to us), the world would be a better place. :)
I am not sure if it is the Chinese upbringing, but it feels a bit weird to order my mom around like a strict movie director. She used to do that to me a lot, so it feels a bit like I am sneakily taking revenge (but I am absolutely not abusing my power in any way). I am also a lot more relaxed about it, as I have been able to let go of my pent up anger as the constant harrassment coming from people around me is no longer present. I got to the point that I am starting to understand why people hurt other people, either they are hurt by others themselves, they need to bully someone first so that they won't be the target, or they are just neglected so much that they need to do something to feel some kind of emotion. Neglection and psychological mind games such as making someone look like a bad person in a group are a way of harming someone too (invincible wounds are wounds too).The people that screamed the loudest and were the meanest actually were the most damaged ones. I was so busy surviving on my own that I just couldn't see it. Being singled out is dangerous as people like to step on people who are weak and vulnerable, unable to fight back, especially when the majority seems to be hating them and nobody would stand up for them. It is human nature. We all don't want to admit we are someone like that, but we all are. Human beings are flawed and we can't see everything or know what people are really thinking. Being a good person living by the rules feels bad, when nobody else seems to be doing it, but it is like a prisoner's dilemma. If everyone is bad, the world would be a mess. If everyone is good, we all just get the same, but humble reward. If you are bad, while everyone isn't, you can steal everyone elses share. But as a Chinese saying goes: When you eat everything on your own, you won't gain meat. I think it means something as being selfish may make you happy at the moment, but the loss of friends and family will make you so depressed that you will lose weight. If we all just humbly eat our own bowl of wonton soup (and not stealing all the wontons of the one sitting next to us), the world would be a better place. :)
Ingredients needed for the filling
1 kg pork
15 large shrimps (washed, marinated with some salt, sugar, and sesame oil)
2 large shiitake mushrooms in bits
1 shallot
2 cloves of garlic
1 strand of spring onion
1 tbsp of chopped ginger
Ingredients needed for the marinade
2 tsp of sugar
2 tsp of potato starch
2 tsp of oyster sauce
1 tsp of sesame oil
3 tbsp of water
2 tsp of soy sauce
1 tsp of salt
Wonton wrappers can be bought at the local Asian supermarket.
Tip: the best way to store the wonton in the freezer, is to freeze them seperately - with a small distance between them - on a big, flat plate covered with saran wrap first. After a few hours, you can stack the hardened wonton in a freezer box without them sticking to each other too much. It makes it easier to take a certain number of wonton out and you don't need to eat the whole box at once. When the soft wrappers of the wonton stick together and become frozen, it also breaks easier in the boiling water. So, you would end up with a bowl full of broken wontons.
Tip: the best way to store the wonton in the freezer, is to freeze them seperately - with a small distance between them - on a big, flat plate covered with saran wrap first. After a few hours, you can stack the hardened wonton in a freezer box without them sticking to each other too much. It makes it easier to take a certain number of wonton out and you don't need to eat the whole box at once. When the soft wrappers of the wonton stick together and become frozen, it also breaks easier in the boiling water. So, you would end up with a bowl full of broken wontons.
