Chili Oil Wonton Recipe
Decadent pork wonton dumplings in a silky Szechuan chili oil. This recipe gives you an easy make-at-home dumpling experience you thought was only possible in a restaurant.
Ingredients
For the Wonton Filling
- 30-40 square wonton wrappers
- 450 g ground pork
- 4 g white pepper
- 10 g sesame oil
- 10 g soy sauce
- 10 g garlic (2 cloves), minced
- 10 g ginger, minced
- 25 g scallions, sliced
- 10 g salt
- 5 g granulated sugar
- 1 egg, large
For the Chili Oil
- 400 g peanut oil
- 20 g gochugaru, divided into 2 equal portions
- 10 g red pepper flakes
- 15 g sesame seeds
- 2 g Szechuan peppercorns, ground
- 20 g garlic (4-5 cloves), minced
- 50 g honey
- 2 g MSG
- 15 g Chinese black vinegar
- 30 g soy sauce
- 60 g hot wonton poaching water
Instructions
- In a heat-resistant bowl, combine aromatics: 10g (half) the gochugaru, red pepper flake, sesame seeds, ground Szechuan peppercorn, and minced garlic. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan, combine the remaining 10g of gochugaru with the peanut oil. Place over medium heat and bring to 350°F/175°C. When the mixture starts to sizzle, the chili powder turns a darker red, and the oil becomes a deep orangish-red color, it’s ready to strain. This usually takes 4-5 minutes.
- Carefully strain the hot oil over the bowl of aromatics. You’ll hear a sizzle and smell the chili and garlic bloom. Stir gently to coat evenly.
- Once the oil mixture has cooled for about 10 minutes to the point that you can easily touch the side of the bowl, add the honey, soy sauce, black vinegar, and MSG. Stir to combine. Set it aside while you make the filling.
- In a large bowl, combine the filling ingredients: ground pork, white pepper, sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, scallions, salt, sugar, and egg.
- Mix by hand and aggressively agitate the meat for 4-5 minutes or until the texture turns from being loose into a paste-like sticky mass that holds itself together a bit.
- To wrap the wontons, place a wonton wrapper on a work surface (keep wrappers-in-waiting under a damp towel to stay moist). Add 15g (1 tbsp) of filling to the center. Wet the edges of the wrapper, fold one corner over to the opposite corner to form a triangle, pressing out any remaining air as you seal. Then crimp the edges of the wrapper around the filling 5-6 times, gathering them up into a beggar’s purse shape.Squeeze the wrapper tightly to make sure it's sealed and has no air pockets. Place each finished wonton on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper.
- Cover the sheet tray with a lid or towel and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Bring a pot of well-salted water to a high simmer, just under rolling boil. Use a spider strainer to add the wontons slowly in batches of 12-15, allowing them to set up for 10 seconds in the water before releasing. Reduce heat to low-ish (around 190°F/90°C) and cook at just below a simmer for 4 minutes per batch.
- When cooked, pull the wontons and dab off any excess water before transferring to serving bowl.
- Before serving, whisk 60g (about ¼ cup) of the starchy poaching water into the chili oil. The starch emulsifies the oil into a glossy, sauce-like glaze. Generously spoon the chili oil over the wontons.
Notes
Serving Suggestion: Serve with plain steamed rice (great for soaking up extra chili oil!). Steamed greens like bok choy or gai lan cut the richness if you want to make it a full meal.
Storage: Freeze uncooked wontons on a sheet tray then transfer to a freezer safe container for storage. To cook from frozen, begin at step 9 and boil for 5-6 minutes instead of 4.
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