Dumplings with Valentino.

My Father’s family come from a line of farmers, and they’ve brought their work ethic to Australia when they first immigrated here in 1994. This Chinese vegetable farm has been our family’s best kept gem since then. As kids we would frequent the rows of Gai Lan, Choy Sum and my favourite Dai Bai Choy and bring home a box of fresh vegetables for the week, something I haven’t been able to do enough as a young adult. I was honored to take Valentino on a tour of this special place and re-live a little slice of my childhood with my Grandparents- who, to this day are regular visitors. To pay homage to my Hong Kong upbringing, I decided to do a farm to table of my favorite HK Wonton soup.

YYC’s Prawn Wonton soup

Traditionally Wonton is served in soup, however you can most certainly serve them as they are - freshly boiled.

INGREDIENTS:

For the mince:

- 500G Organic Chicken mince

- 500G peeled, prawns. (individually cut into 3 if their large). 

- 2 shallots (finely diced)

- 1 knob ginger (finely diced)

- 2 garlic (finely diced)

- Splash of sesame oil

- Splash of low sodium soy sauce

- Splash of olive oil

- Your desired amount of salt & pepper (white if you have).

- 1 tbls of cornflour (and flour works - this keeps the mince together, I used arrowroot.)

- 1 x egg

Other:

2 x packets of Wonton wraps

Flour 

Sesame oil 

Chilli oil

Handful of coriander & chopped shallots to serve.

Chinese vegetables (I like Gai Lan or Choy Sum).

RECIPE

Combine all the mince ingredients, except for the prawns.

• Mix until the consistency is paste like. Add in the prawn last. Make sure there is an even ratio of prawns and chicken.

• Have a big chopping board ready to place all your Wontons on. Make sure to flour the base, so your Wontons don’t stick to each other.

• Always have a little bowl of water.

- If you're a beginner, spoon a tsp of mince into the center of your wonton wrapping. It's better to start small so the mince sits tight in the wrap.

• Fold your wrapping in half so it creates a triangle), squeezing the edges with your thumbs.

• Next, dab the two (left and right) corners with water, and fold them together.

- Repeat until all mince has been used up. 

To boil:

I like having my wonton's in an organic chicken broth. 

- Fill your pot with water or desired broth and wait until boiled.

- Blanch your Chinese vegetables for 3-4 minutes. Once cooked, place them in your Wonton bowl.

- Add the wontons to the same boiling pot of water or broth. Make sure you don't overcrowd the pot.

- The wontons will cook within 2-3 mins, they will float to the top.

To serve:

• Serve Wonton's in hot broth, with Chinese vegetables garnished with spring onions, coriander & a splash of sesame oil.

To dip:

- My favorite sauce is a combination of black vinegar, ginger, shallots & chili oil.