Facts about Wonton That You Might Not Know

Wonton is one of the popular Chinese recipes that is not only famous in China but is also liked in other countries across the world. Also known as Chinese dumplings, wonton is a staple food that was introduced to the West by early settlers in the country who originally belonged to Cantonese speaking coastal areas of Southern China. The word ‘wonton’ originally came from Cantonese which means “swallowing clouds” in Chinese. Those who have some knowledge of Chinese art may feel that the wonton floating in the soup is actually resembled to the traditional design of spiral cloud which is very famous in Chinese crafts.  Despite being an original Chinese dish, wontons are cooked in different styles in different parts of China.  Quite the opposite original Chinese recipe, wontons are friends all across the world except China as they are used to boil their dumplings and serve them with a bowl of broth.

Here are the most common types of Chinese dumplings used in China:

Cantonese Wonton

Made with flour and egg, the Cantonese wonton contains a yellow covering like a pasta sheet. Typically, cooked pork mince and shrimp are used to fill the dumplings. The Cantonese wontons are wrapped by bringing the four corners together and gently squeeze to give a shape. Most people in Southern China serve wontons with thin egg noodles that are chewy like a rubber band, and are commonly used in various parts of the country.  On the other hand, preparing soup is considered to be an art in itself and every wonton shop has their special recipes for the broth. However, most consumers consider shrimp shells as  one of the major and common ingredients for the broth for wonton..

Shanghainese Wonton

Shanghainese wontons have a flour-made white thick wrapping, and are filled with pork mince and Shanghainese bok choy. Some people also like to add chopped leeks and spring onions to bring variations to dumplings’ filling. The soup, on the other hand, is made from the mix of soya sauce, water and some seasonings in order to give the white soup appearance a color. Although, pork mince is the most popular ingredient to be used for most Chinese dumplings types, there are several new variations that can be used as wonton fillings. These fillings include chicken with carrots, beans or mushrooms while some people also use chicken mince with preserved vegetables and black fungus. For Shanghainese style wonton, the wrapping is done by folding it into a triangular shape and brining slight twist in the second folding to give it a lovely shape.

Sichuan Wonton

Like Shanghainese wonton, Sichuan wontons have white thick wrapping.  Also known as Chao Shou, this type of Chinese dumplings are boiled and served in extremely spicy sauce which is commonly used in most Sichuan recipes. The reason why this particular dumpling is named as Chao Shou is the way it is wrapped with thick flour. First its wrapping is folded into a triangle shape and then two sides of the shape are brought to the front going beyond each other which resembles as a person is folding his arms.