Jackelope, below is my recipe for won tons. You may wish to try making some pork meatballs using the filling mixture. To work the normally wooden lemon grass that I suggested into your recipe, please consider coarsely chopping some of the (peeled) large end of the shoots and using it to perfume a large tin of chicken stock. Add a few coins of ginger and some roasted sesame oil. You may also wish to investigate getting some powdered galangal at your local Asian food market. This is one of the signature spices used in Malay cooking. I’m not fond of it but is it a classic ingredient.
Use the scented chicken broth to cook off some rice stick noodles. Avoid boiling them for very long. If you catch them while they’re still al dente, you’ll be able to fry them in a little vegetable oil and get a delightful crispy noodle effect. To quickly stop them from cooking once they are right at the chewy state, drain the noodles and then rinse them in cold running water for one minute. You’ll need to reheat the noodles by frying them or adding them back into the stock (for soup) once everything is assembled.
I’ll also suggest that you look for those fish or shrimp balls (it’s easy to tell the shrimp balls, they’re so very tiny [grin]). They’ll make a fantastic tasting and quite healthy addition to your dish. After your noodles are cooked off and have been removed from the broth, add the seafood balls and either make soup, or just bring them back into the pork and noodles once they’re warmed up (they are usually pre-cooked). Toss in some whole peeled prawns (or regular shrimp), snow peas, drained canned straw mushrooms, drained canned water chestnuts, or (for a real octane boost) some sliced Jalapeño pepper with the seeds and ribs removed.
Be sure to hold off from adding any of the sauces or spices you are using until the very last few minutes of cooking. Prolonged heating of these ingredients boils off their delicate spice notes and tends to leave them a bit flat. However, this does not apply to spices that must be mixed in ahead of time (like the five spice powder in the won tons). The perfumed chicken stock mentioned above is your friend. Make a batch and save it for routine use with all sorts of dishes.
For those who are interested, here is a nasi lemak recipe. I can’t testify to how authentic it is, but it sure looks good! YUM!
Here’s the won ton recipe:
Wonton
Chinese Dumplings
Preparation time: 30 Minutes
Serves: 4-8 People
Ingredients:
1 Package won ton wrappers
6-8 Water chestnuts
2-3 Scallions
1-2 Cloves of garlic
½ Lb Ground Pork
¼ Lb Cooked and peeled shrimp
2 Tbs Soy sauce
1-2 Tbs Grated ginger
1-2 Tbs Xao Xing* or Sherry
½ Tsp Sugar
¼ Cup diced celery
¼ Cup diced green pepper
¼ Tsp Ground white pepper
¼ Tsp Five spice powder
¼ Tsp Roasted sesame oil
Mince the green pepper and celery finely. Parboil them in a small amount of water until near tender. Grind the shrimp into a fine paste in a mortar and pestle. In a large bowl combine the pork and ground shrimp add the crushed garlic, fine chopped scallions, minced water chestnut, grated ginger, sugar and all other spices and liquids. In a separate bowl beat an egg until creamy. Mix it with the meat and blend thoroughly. Allow the mixture to marry for one hour.
To make the won tons line a few plates with wax paper. On a cutting board place one of the square papers on the diagonal in front of you so that it forms a diamond shape. Place a small teaspoonful of the meat mix on the lower half of the wrapper. Dip your finger into a small bowl of water and run your fingertip around the upper two edges to moisten them. Fold up the skin into a triangle and press the edges together to seal the wonton. Grasp the two pointed outer corners and pull them together while rolling the main body of the filling away from you. This will give you the standard restaurant won ton shape
An alternate is to place the meat into the center of the paper and merely squash the edges together in a sort of sacatini like pouch. Wet your fingers and crimp all of the edges together. Place the won tons onto the wax paper and make sure that they do not touch each other. Keep the won tons covered with a moistened towel so that they do not dry out.
Cook the wanton in a fast boiling clear broth. Do not allow them to over cook as they will disintegrate. Once they begin to float upon the surface they will be close to done. Once the dough is past al dente the cooking they are ready. These same won tons may be deep fried to a golden brown. They freeze well and can go from the freezer to the cook pot with ease.
Note: For wonton soup use the traditional ingredients of water chestnuts, scallions, snow peas, mushrooms, shrimp and a good strong chicken broth. Some coins of ginger will add a nice perfume.
Deep fried wonton may be served with a good chili sauce for western palates. For a more authentic flavor use a dipping mixture composed of dark soy sauce with several drops of roasted sesame chile oil. Chopped garlic, scallions, ginger and a dash of sugar are optional.
