Hearty, healthy wontons made with crisp watercress and juicy pork, served in a quick and easy chicken broth. This post includes detailed step-by-step photos to help you create the authentic dim sum experience in your own kitchen. The real essence of great Chinese food is balance and texture. Both are important elements to creating a satisfying taste and nourishing meal. Unlike many popular American Chinese dishes that are extremely meat-heavy, the food on a typical Chinese dinner table consist of lots of vegetables, a moderate amount of grains (or other staples, such as bread), and a small portion of meat. Meat is used in various veggie dishes as a seasoning. For example, the gorgeous Yu Xiang Eggplant, Sichuan Dry Fried Green Beans, and Braised Daikon Radish.
Why watercress wontons
If you go to a wet market in China, you’ll see bowls of steaming hot veggie wonton soup, and those wontons are filled with watercress and just a bit of pork. You’d be surprised how hearty and satisfying these wontons taste. Not only is watercress among the healthiest leafy greens in the world, it also contains abundant vitamins and minerals that make you feel great. With just a touch of soy sauce, cooking wine, and sesame oil, you can create some dim sum house level wonton soup in your own kitchen. Can you believe a bowl of watercress wonton soup contains just 138 calories for a small snack bowl or 276 calories served as a main dish? Whether you’re looking for a comforting breakfast, a quick afternoon snack, or a fix for your midnight craving, these watercress wontons hit all the right spots while keeping your caloric intake very low. I got my watercress from B&W Growers. I love how fresh their watercress is. They’re specialists in growing baby greens year round–allowing them to grow products where they are always in season to achieve the highest peak of freshness and flavor. To find more ways to use watercress, check out their recipe page.
How to prepare watercress
You might be familiar with watercress in a salad context. But did you know that it’s a delicious veggie that tastes great when cooked? Watercress is commonly used in dumpling and wonton filling in China. It has a peppery taste and crisp texture that works perfectly with rich pork.
1. Remove the tough stems
To make a great wonton filling, it’s important to remove the tough stems from the watercress and only use the tender leafy part. My preferred workflow is:
Rinse the watercress thoroughly with tap water Place the watercress in a big bowl. Work on the leaves one at a time. Remove the stem and place the leaf in another bowl.
I started with an 8 oz. (225 g) batch of watercress and got about 6 oz. (170 g) of leaves once the stems were removed.
2. Salt the watercress
It’s very important to salt the watercress before using it. Salting removes some of the bitterness, makes the watercress wither and easily wrapped into the filling, and makes the texture better.
You need to mix some salt with the watercress Let it sit for 10 minutes Squeeze out water as hard as you can Mince the leaves into tiny bits
How to make wonton filling
You might be surprised how little pork is used in this recipe. My goal was to create a well-balanced wonton filling so you can enjoy the delicious taste of the watercress. If you prefer to have a meatier filling, you can reduce the watercress to 6 oz. (170 g), so you will get about 4 oz. (112 g) once prepared. The rest ingredients remain the same. To make the filling:
Combine the pork with seasonings, without adding the watercress. Whisk the filling very thoroughly, for 5 minutes, so it forms a paste. This help bind the ingredients together, creating a good texture. Then add the watercress and mix again.
How to wrap watercress wonton
If you’re shopping at an Asian grocery store, you usually can find wonton wrappers in different sizes. To make veggie wontons, I prefer to use bigger wonton wrappers. The wrapper I used in this recipe is about 3.5” x 3.5” (9mm x 9 mm). There are many ways to wrap wontons. I shared 4 ways to wrap wontons in this video. In this recipe, I used the method that create beautiful wontons:
Place some filling on one end of the wonton wrapper Roll it up to wrap the filling Press out as much air as possible Seal the “tails” of the wonton
You can use whichever way you feel comfortable to wrap them.
Make ahead, save for later
Yes, it takes some time and effort to wrap the wontons. That’s why I always recommend to do it in bigger batch in advance and save for later. It’s always more fun to wrap wontons slowly while watching your favorite Netflix show on a weekend, than rushing through things on an exhausting Monday night. Next time when you need some comfort food on a busy weekday night, forget about calling takeout and wait for the mediocre wonton soup to arrive. Instead, you can quickly boil the frozen wontons and put together the broth, all it takes is 10 minutes. To freeze wontons, you should always spread them to a single layer, either on a tray or a container, and seal tightly. But once the wontons are frozen completely, you can transfer them into a ziplock bag to save freezer space. This recipe yields about 28 to 30 wontons. If you’re making a big batch in advance, do double the recipe so you’ll have more for later!
More delicious dim sum recipes
Chinese Chive Pockets (Chinese Chive Dumplings) Homemade Vegan Dumplings Nepali Momos with Spinach and Ricotta Sichuan Spicy Wonton in Red Oil How to Make Shumai (Steamed Dumplings)
If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @omnivorescookbook on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.
