Name: Sichuan Chili Oil Wontons
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Sichuan
Ingredients: 36 thin square wonton wrappers, thawed if frozen; 3/4 lb ground pork; 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated and soaked in 3 tbsp water, then strained; 4 scallions, whites minced, greens thinly sliced; 3 tbsp soy sauce, divided; 1 tbsp shaoxing wine; 1/4 tsp ground white pepper; 2 tsp toasted sesame oil, divided; 1/4 cup sichuan chili oil, with plenty of sediment; 1 1/2 tbsp chinkiang black vinegar; 2 tsp sugar; 3 garlic cloves, minced to a paste; 1/2 tsp ground sichuan pepper, freshly toasted; 3 tbsp crispy fried shallots; 3 tbsp pickled mustard greens, finely diced

Sichuan Chili Oil Wontons

4.8 from 302 home cooks Free

Slippery pork wontons folded from thin store-bought wrappers, boiled for a few minutes and flooded with a sauce of red chili oil, black vinegar, garlic and numbing Sichuan pepper. Crispy shallots and salty pickled mustard greens pile on the crunch. Chengdu snack stalls call them hong you chao shou, and they vanish just as fast here.

Prep

35 min

Cook

10 min

Total

45 min

Serves

Level

Medium

Cuisine

Sichuan

Method

Step 1: Put the pork, scallion whites, 1 tbsp soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, white pepper and 1 tsp sesame oil in a bowl. Stir in one direction while adding the strained ginger water a tablespoon at a time, until the pork absorbs it all and looks pale and sticky.
Step 2: Set a wrapper on your palm like a diamond and place a teaspoon of filling just below the center. Wet the edges, fold the bottom point up to meet the top to make a triangle, and press out the air.
Step 3: Dab water on one of the two side corners, bring both corners together below the filling and pinch them tightly so the wonton looks like a little folded cap. Keep finished wontons under a damp towel.
Step 4: In a small bowl, stir together the chili oil, remaining 2 tbsp soy sauce, black vinegar, sugar, garlic, Sichuan pepper and remaining 1 tsp sesame oil until the sugar dissolves. Divide among four serving bowls.
Step 5: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the wontons, stir gently, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until they float and the wrappers turn translucent with frilly, silky edges. The filling should feel firm when pressed.
Step 6: Lift the wontons out with a spider, let excess water drip off, and slide them into the sauced bowls. Toss once to coat, then top with scallion greens, crispy shallots and pickled mustard greens and eat immediately.

Kitchen note

Beating ginger water into pork in a single direction lines up the meat proteins into a stretchy network that traps liquid, so the filling stays bouncy and juicy instead of crumbly after boiling.