Ingredients

Check off ingredients as you go

For 30 steamed dumplings

For the filling

• 30 wonton wrappers (store-bought frozen or homemade, see below)
• 400g (14 oz) chicken breast
• 6-8 stems fresh cilantro
• 2 cm (¾ inch) fresh ginger
• 1 small carrot, grated (optional but even better with it)
• 2 scallions (or 2 shallots)
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil (optional)
• 1 to 2 tbsp Mirin sauce
• Salt, pepper

If you change the number of serving, consider adjusting cooking times!

Preparing the filling

1. Put all ingredients (except the wonton wrappers of course…) in a food processor and blend to obtain a fairly smooth and homogeneous paste. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate.

Shaping the dumplings

2. Take the wonton wrappers and arrange on a clean surface. Place 1 teaspoon of filling in the center of each wrapper, moisten the edges well with water and fold as shown in the photo. You can cook them in broth, steam them, or even deep-fry them. This time, I steamed them in a bamboo steamer, arranging them side by side on a sheet of parchment paper in which I made small holes (you can also use lettuce leaves) so the steam can pass through. When the water in the pot comes to a boil, place the closed bamboo steamer on top and steam for 4-6 minutes. Don’t cook longer to prevent the filling from drying out - it cooks very quickly.

Serve with Sriracha sauce or my famous spring roll sauce.

To make homemade wonton wrappers

If you can’t find wontons, here’s the recipe to make them yourself - it’s very easy and you can even make gyozas and fried wontons with this dough.

Ingredients:

• 250g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp neutral oil (optional)
• 140ml (½ cup + 1 tbsp) water
• 1 egg (optional, personally I don’t use it)

Mix well until you get a smooth dough, let rest 5-10 minutes. Dust your work surface with cornstarch, roll out the dough thinly, then cut into 8-10cm (3-4 inch) squares. You can use them immediately or freeze them by separating each wonton wrapper with parchment paper.

With this same dough you can make fried Chinese wonton dumplings:

Tips and variations

• For a vegetarian version, you can replace the chicken with grated zucchini that has been sautéed in a pan.

• The ingredient list might seem complicated if you’re not used to cooking Asian dishes. However, these are pantry staples if you enjoy this type of cuisine.

• All ingredients used in this recipe are easily found in most supermarkets, in the Asian food aisle.