Presto Pasta Night: Turkey Wontons With Greens And Lime Dipping Sauce

I love wontons.  But, I only crave the soft, boiled versions, not the fried ones.  Supposedly, the word wonton means "swallowing clouds."   True or not, it perfectly describes the way they look, floating in a bowl of broth. Eating the delicate, soft pasta skins stuffed with filling is sheer bliss.  I normally have them in wonton soup, but these were piled into serving bowls, with a fabulous lime dipping sauce spooned on top.  Great happiness filled me as I ate these little gems.  Some people think the Chinese invented pasta, and some say they didn't.  I really don't care about that. I'm just eternally grateful that they invented the wonton.

I made the filling with ground turkey, but pork would have been even better.  It's flavored with lots of ginger root, garlic and hoisin sauce.  When you make a filling like this, you should make "test" meatballs, cooked in boiling water or the microwave.  It lets you correct the seasonings--and it's a lot of fun too.  That's  one of the perks when you cook food.  I had quite a few test meatballs.

Wonton soldiers, ready to jump into boiling water.

This recipe was made for Presto Pasta Night, created by the lovely Ruth at Once Upon A Feast.  Every Friday, she posts her round-up of delicious pasta recipes from bloggers around the world. Do check it out.

Turkey Wontons With Greens And Lime Dipping Sauce

(Loosely Adapted from a recipe in  Big Small Plates by Cindy Pawlcyn)

Wonton filling:

1 lb. ground turkey
1-2 Tablespoons of minced ginger root
5 scallions, white and light green part thinly sliced
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
About 1-1/2 cups cooked chopped greens, squeezed dry, such as spinach, chard, kale, or mustard greens
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1-2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 egg

Mix all the ingredients together.  Form a teaspoon into a little ball and cook it in boiling water or in the microwave, until cooked. Taste and adjust the seasonings, adding salt if necessary or more ginger and garlic.  Cover and place in the fridge until you're ready to make the wontons. This freezes well.

Making the wontons:

1 package of wonton wrappers
small cup of water

When time to make the wontons, place a wonton wrapper on a flat surface and place about 1 teaspoon of the filling on the wrapper.  There should be a diagram of how to make make the wontons on the package the wrappers came in. However, here is an interesting site that shows 8 different ways to fold them.  The simplest way is to put a teaspoon of the filling in the middle, use your finger to paint the water on the edges of the wrapper, then fold onto a triangle, making sure to seal the edges together. Keep the wontons covered as you make them. After they are made, you can cover them with plastic wrap and set them in the fridge for up to 2 hours, before you cook them.  They freeze well too.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add several Tablespoons of salt. Drop the Wontons in the boiling water and cook for about 3-4 minutes.  Drain them (I prefer to scoop them out of the water with a large strainer.)  Serve the wontons in bowls with the lime dipping sauce spooned on top.  You can alsp serve the wontons in broth as a soup.

Lime Dipping Sauce

6 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 Tablespoons fish sauce
1-2 shallots, finely sliced
2 Tablespoons sugar (use Splenda if you want--but you must add a sweetner)
2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro, mint, or basil
2 Tablespoons  grated carrots

Mix all ingredients together.

Comments

[MyKitchenInHalfCups]

And I'm just eternally grateful that you have this blog! You really do excite the taste buds with this one, well and the eyes also. Never been brave enough to try wontons, now I see I need too.

[Anh]

So yummy, Sher! This is a bowl of comfort!

[Peter]

Sher, they look delish and as authentic as anything I've seen in Chinatown!

[Lydia]

Your wontons look perfect, and I'm intrigued by the lime dipping sauce. Will bookmark!

[Rosa]

Wow, how gorgeous! With the cold weather we are having here, that dish would be more than welcome...

Cheers,

Rosa

[Maxine]

I'm a huge fan of wontons too, but I've been too lazy to try them from scratch. Trader Joe's frozen ones often make their way into my dinner. :) Thanks for this recipe - I love that it's made with ground turkey!

[Alisha]

I love boiled wontons too (though I wouldn't ever pass up a fried one). I'll have to make something like this soon... yours looks fantastic!

[Julie]

I love wontons too and your wontons look so delicate and delicious. Eating them without the broth is an excellent idea -- the wontons are far and away the best part of wonton soup.

[Katie]

I love soft wontons... I never thought to make them and just eat them, without the soup. Sometimes I am amazed at my lack of imagination!

[greensgal]

A delightful recipe - I can't wait to try them, maybe with some pork from Polyface Farm.

[Kevin]

Nice looking wontons! The dip sounds nice and tasty.

[gattina]

Even I am Chinese, I only realized the meaning of "wonton" today from reading your post :) :) ...(just like I chatted with an Amercian girl in our spanish class, she wouldn't necessarily notice what infinitive words (and etc...) were in her language...we take our things for granted).
Your combination of ginger with turkey is superb! I will cry for a HUGE bowl!!!

[lydia hamre]

This is a keeper!

[Callipygia]

You know I had a friend who claimed that her father produced the first really good commercial wonton wrapper. Hmmmm sounds good to me! And your meaty soldiers look superb. I'll show up for duty and eat up fast.

[Ruth]

So beautiful, so scrumptious...can I come to dinner? Thanks so much for sharing with Presto Pasta Nights.

[Tartelette]

I shall take the bull by the horns one night and stop procrastinating making wontons as I have all the ingredients for such a dish! Love the soft ones too, and the fried....oh gosh I am doomed!
You give me so many great recipes, like Tanna, I want to thank you for having this blog! Keep it up!

[aria]

look at that! mmmm, i remember the wonton soup you made, it made me crave them too and now i remember my craving was never satisfied. i need to take care of that this weekend. i believe your wantons are marching in a phalanx, so disciplined...

[Boston Chef]

Looks delicious - wouldn't mind some of those test meatballs!

[Glenna]

Those look divine! I have got to make those someday.

[lizzie]

I remember making wontons with my mum and grandmother - it was like a little production line. Sooo good. I also use wonton wrappers to make ravioli and I can never be arsed to make my own pasta!

Have you tried making pot sticker dumplings?

[Jennifer]

I don't care for deep fried wontons either. I like them boiled...not so harsh on the stomach.

This looks killer! YUM!

[Phoebe]

Hi, I am the webmaster of www.chinese-soups-recipes.com. Wanted to drop a note to tell you how pleasantly surprised I am to find my website mentioned here.

I'm changing my domain name to http://www.homemade-chinese-soups.com. The wonton wrapping page is now at http://www.homemade-chinese-soups.com/how-to-fold-wontons.html

Do update the url link in your post in case it becomes a broken link once my website has moved.

Your pictures are so nice, thanks for making the wontons look so appealing. =>

Warmest!
Phoebe

[Boo]

Thank you for posting this repcie found it via Tastespotting and this is now my current favorite thing to eat. I don't really like store-bought wontons, but these I LOVE!Still haven't gotten the hang of making them look cool, but it works and tastes fantastic. Thank you!!!