Pork Wontons with Crispy Chilli Oil

All around the world, people enjoy dumplings. You may be familiar with gyoza, momo, mandu, pierogi, pelmeni - we could go on. Each variety has its own norms regarding filling, how it’s folded, cooked, and how it is served. Your dumpling journey may just be starting but we guarantee it can take you a long, long way.

Let’s start with wontons - succulent parcels of meat wrapped in a tender chewy skin from only three ingredients. You’ll be surprised how easy they are to prepare.

Ingredients

• wonton wrappers, small pack 270g-300g will yield approx. 30-40 wrappers, available from supermarket fridge section
• City Larder Free Range Pork Rillettes
• Six-Eyed Scorpion Crispy Chilli Oil

Method

1. Gently separating each wrapper from the rest, lay five wrappers down on a clean dry surface. Place a scant tablespoonful of rillettes onto the centre of the wrapper. Dab some water along the edge of the wrapper, moistening it to create a seal.
2. Now comes the fun bit. Fold one corner of the wrapper across to meet its diagonal partner. Using both hands, squeeze out any excess air and seal along the edges. You should have a large triangle. Give it a quarter roll forward and hold it between your index finger and middle finger. Using the other hand, dab a little water onto the two bottom corners (at either end of the large side of the triangle) and bring these two together, pinching closed with your thumb. Place to one side while you assemble the rest.
3. Bring plenty of water to a rapid boil and gently lower your wontons in. Once they float, cook for another minute before lifting from the water onto some draining towel. Serve while still warm, drizzle generously with crispy chilli oil making sure to get lots of tasty crispy bits for textural contrast.

Tips

• Don’t be tempted to overstuff your dumplings. They’ll become difficult to handle and can split while cooking.
• If you need to make these ahead of time, they can be frozen on a tray then stored in a plastic bag in the freezer until required. No need to defrost first, just cook straight from frozen.
• While we’ve detailed one folding method, there are plenty more ways to do this. Check out YouTube for crimping, pleating and folding inspiration and tuition.