Prawn Potsticker Wontons

Preparation

Firstly, prepare your flash-fry vegetables. Trim and wash your handful of bean sprouts, and put them in a bowl. Now, remove the last centimetre of white stalk from your Chinese chives before chopping them into long pieces - roughly 5cm each - and placing into the bowl along with the bean sprouts.

Next, make up your wonton filling. First, put the noodles in a clean bowl, cover with hot water and soak for 3 minutes. Drain and dry the noodles on a clean kitchen towel, then finely chop and place in a large mixing bowl. Finely slice or dice the rest of ‘The Filling’ ingredients except for the tiger prawns, and tip into the mixing bowl along with the noodles. Bash the prawns (if using) with the side of your cleaver or knife, then finely chop and add to the filling mixture. Add in marinade ingredients and mix well to fully combine.

Now, in a separate bowl, mix together ‘The Sauce’ ingredients, and taste to adjust. Leave to one side for later.

Time to wrap your wontons! To make Jeremy’s ‘Smiling Nun’ Fold, place one of the pastries on a flat surface in front of you. Place roughly 1 ½ teaspoons of the marinated mix into the centre of the pastry.

Fold the bottom edge of the pastry over the filling, flush to the top edge, then press down on the top edge to lightly seal. Tightly roll the filling over towards the top edge once more, forming a sausage roll or cigar shape, but keeping the corners of the wrapper still free.

Press down on the edges of the pastry either side of the filling to stick them together. Now pick up the edges of the pastry, holding the innermost pleats or corners. Overlap the inside pleats over one another, using a little water to help them stick, pinching and squeezing the edges tight.

Leaving the outer unfolded edges open should make the dumpling look like a slightly podgy-looking ‘nun’ with a gummy smile, when turned on its side. Do the same with the rest of the pastries and filling.

Cooking

To pan fry the dumplings, set a frying pan up over a medium to high heat and with a drizzle of oil. Once the oil is hot, place your nuns into the pan, with the top of their heads touching the base of the hot pan and a small amount of space between each. After just 1 minute, when the wontons become crisp and brown on the bottom, flip them all over and allow them to fry until evenly golden-brown on both sides.

Let’s get steaming! Bring your frying pan to a high heat and pour in some water, until the liquid reaches approximately one-third of the way up the wontons. Immediately place a lid on top and leave to steam for 3-4 minutes. (Hint: you don’t just have to use a bamboo lid here, metal, glass, or even a plate will do!).

While your wontons are steaming, set up a clean wok over a high heat. Add a small amount of oil, and heat it until smoking. Add in your bean sprouts and chives, stir-frying for just 2 minutes, before bringing the heat back to high and pouting in the sauce. Stir this through, and then turn the wok off to prevent the vegetables from over-cooking.

Back to your wontons. Remove the lid from your frying pan, and allow all of the remaining water in the pan to evaporate. Then bring the frying pan to a high heat, and fry your wontons until crispy on both sides, turning occasionally to prevent burning.

Once your wontons are ready, bring your wok back to a really high heat and wait for the sauce to be vigorously boiling. At this point, transfer your wontons from the frying pan to the wok, tossing them through the vegetables three times before serving. Enjoy!