Chinese Soy-'Beef' Wontons

Another fun afternoon activity while you are watching a movie and have time idle time, is to wrap your own filling into wontons. Buying pre-made wonton wrappers frozen from your nearby Asian market, like Vii Voan, is the best way to skip the mess and hassle of making wonton dough on your own. I have made my own, and I can tell you that unless you have a LOT of time and a spacious kitchen (unfortunately I have neither), then this isn't worth it. Just buy these:

The filling:

• 1/2 cup dried textured soy
• 1 cup water
• 1 cube veggie or beef bullion
• 1 cup finely chopped cabbage
• 1/4 cup scallions diced
• 1 carrot, grated
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tbs ginger, powder or grated
• 1 tbs corn starch
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs oyster sauce
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• dash of salt and pepper
• wonton wrappers
• 1 tsp roasted sesame oil
• peanut oil for frying

1. Boil the textured soy in water and bullion until soft and completely rehydrated (about 10 minutes)
2. In a large saucepan, heat some peanut oil. Add the garlic, ginger, scallions and lighly fry until soft.
3. Add the cabbage and carrot to the saucepan and cook until softened (about 10 minutes)
4. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, corn starch and other desired spices, and sesame oil.
5. Add textured soy to the cabbage mixture and mix well. Allow to cool.
6. Using a small bowl of water, line 2 sides of a sqaure wonton wrapper with water.
7. Place 1 tsp of filling in the center of the wonton, fold in half and press to seal.
8. Continue the process, leaving ready wontons on a lined baking sheet until you have run out of filling (or time or patience).
9. Add wontons to soup, or fry them quickly in hot peanut oil** and serve with sauce.

*Since this recipe makes about 4 dozen wontons, you may want to freeze some. To do this, I suggest placing the whole baking sheet with wontons into the freezer for about 2o minutes so that the wontons are frozen separately. Then, you may add them to a container or a bag inside the freezer. Do not throw them together in a bag before they are seperately frozen, or else they will stick together and become a mess.

** Peanut oil or coconut oil is recommended because of it's higher smoke temperature. You are able to fry the wontons quickly at a high heat without burning or creating smoke.