It’s two months of A Common Table giveaways! From now until December, I’ll be sharing a recipe from the cookbook here and holding a giveaway of one of my favorite kitchen treasures used in the book every week, and you’ll have a week to enter before the winner is announced, along with a new giveaway.
You guys, it’s time. Christmas season is here! B2 and I are firmly in the “Christmas-music-starts-with-the-last-bite-of-Thanksgiving-dessert” camp, so Frank Sinatra is currently crooning in the background nonstop, our tiny carted-over-from-Brooklyn faux tree is set up in our living room, the lights are up (B3 starts every morning by running into the living room saying “Lights? Lights?”) and I could not be happier. If this were not cozy enough, my tragic aversion to coffee and tea in these first six months is finally letting up–joy!–so I’ve been guzzling all the very sweetened very diluted lattes my pregnant nose can handle.
I’ve written before about how this season gets me in the mood for potstickers, but it also tends to remind me of their cousin, too. My family was more of a homemade wonton family than dumplings, despite how often I make potstickers these days, and the holidays remind me of long afternoons and evenings that started with my mother at the kitchen counter, squeezing the moisture from greens and mincing them with her giant cleaver, before whisking it into a big bowl of pork, garlic, ginger, and fragrant condiments and delivering it to my dad, who folded it, impossibly quick and deft, into row after row of plump little bundles, beautifully uniform with their little chests puffed up proud and boisterous as they know how well they’ve been made. (Mine never end up nearly that pretty.)
This recipe from my cookbook swaps in collard greens instead of the pungent, fragrant shepherd’s purse (ji cai) that my mom typically uses. It wasn’t a “fusion” I intended but one born of convenience, since collards are always available at my supermarket but I sometimes don’t even find ji cai at the Chinese market. Surprisingly, collard greens add just the right bite to the wontons and mimic the slight spicy kick of shepherd’s purse so closely that I might not know the difference if I hadn’t made it myself. If you can’t find either of these, though, any hardy leafy green, from kale to Swiss chard or even cabbage, will do just fine.
For the giveaway this week, I’m super excited to pair up with ButcherBox to give away one box of curated products that are tailored for the recipes in A Common Table! There’s ground pork for these wontons, lion’s head meatballs, and the potstickers, ground beef for the bulgogi burgers, the bibimbap, or the chili, rib eye for the salt & pepper steak, chicken breasts for the kimchi quesadillas, baby back ribs for the Shanghainese sweet & sour ribs, and wings for the Chinese cola chicken wings. After hearing from a few of you over the last few weeks about ways to enter the giveaway if you don’t have Instagram, we’re also changing these last two giveaways so that you can enter either on Instagram or by dropping a comment below! The giveaway is 18+, U.S. only, and ends next Friday, December 7 at 12:00 a.m.
collard wontons
Ingredients
- for the wontons:
- ½ pound collard greens, roughly chopped
- 1 pound ground pork
- ¼ cup thinly sliced scallions (2 to 3 scallions)
- 1 tablespoon finely grated ginger root
- 3 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine, dry sherry, or sake
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper 70 to 80 wonton wrappers
- (15 to 16 ounces, or
- about 1⅓ packages; keep unused wrappers covered in plastic wrap, sealed
- in a Ziploc bag, and frozen for later use)
- for the broth:
- 4 cups water
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 to 2 teaspoons soy sauce, for serving
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil, for serving
- ¼ cup thinly sliced scallions (2 to 3 scallions), for serving
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add the greens and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer until the greens are bright green and beginning to turn tender, but still have some bite, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and add to a food processor. Pulse until finely shredded.
- In a large bowl, combine the greens, pork, scallions, ginger, rice wine, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar (if using), salt, and white pepper. Using chopsticks or a wooden spoon, stir vigorously until all ingredients are well combined and the filling forms a thick paste.
- Prepare a small bowl of water for sealing the wrappers. For each wrapper, place 1 teaspoon of filling in the center. Dab a bit of water on one edge and fold the wrapper in half, taking care to seal the wrapper well around the filling. Dab water on one corner of the folded seam and bring the two folded corners together to form a small bundle (see page 168). Place on a tray and repeat. You should end up with 70 to 80 wontons. To save them for later, freeze on the tray, then place in a Ziploc bag. They’ll keep in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- When you’re ready to cook the wontons, in a large pot, bring the water and chicken broth to a boil. Add about 20 wontons, stirring gen- tly to ensure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Cook until the water comes back to a boil and the wontons f loat to the surface, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the wontons to plate. Repeat with the remaining wontons until they’re all cooked, or freeze a portion of the uncooked wontons for later. To cook from frozen, use the same method, but boil for 4 to 6 minutes, until the wontons f loat.
- To serve, divide the wontons among several small bowls and ladle a bit of the cooking broth over each bowl. Drizzle lightly with soy sauce and a few drops of sesame oil, and top with scallions. Enjoy immediately.
Bria Silbert
I just subscribed to your blog last week and am already enchanted by your recipes!
Heidi
These recipes look delicious. Thanks for giving me another way to enter.
Susan B
You’ve inspired me to make some dumplings when my kids are home at the end of December!
Mary
Just “discovered” your blog
and recipes! Looking forward
to delicious kitchen adventures!
Mary
Love making dumplings. Thanks for new version!
Maureen Sutherland Weiser
OMG, these look absolutely amazing! And a Butcher Box giveaway is just awesome!!
Christine
What a great idea for wontons.
I can’t wait to try this.
Nancy e
Love your recipes. So tasty.
Melissa
I’m excited to try these!
Anonymous
I’m so excited to be a part of this blog!!
Melissa SaN martin
I’m so excited to be a part of this blog!! The meatballs were a huge hit with my husband and I can’t wait to try these dumplings
Gina
My family couldn’t get enough of your lion’s head meatballs!
Susan
Aww, my mouth is watering! As a non- Instagram user I’m thrilled to be able to enter the giveaway by leaving a comment. Thank you.
ellie | from scratch, mostly
yummmmm I want this right now, but don’t want to work hard! hahaha, it looks like perfection, Cynthia.
Beverly Davis
I’m so happy to have discovered your site. Potstickers are my favorite that I have been trying to perfect and your photos will help in my pursuit. Thanks for making it easier to enter your giveaways also. Happy dipping!
Li
Wow! what a great ingredient for wonton–can’t wait to try them. In my wanderings, I “discovered” Chinese garlic chives and pea shoots (though, I like the entire plant, not just the end leaves). Would the garlic chives fit in the wonton & how do you prepare the pea shoots. Stay well.
tworedbowls
Li, I think garlic chives would be fantastic and my mother loves using those, too! I would use the garlic chives in place of the scallions, then use another green like the collards (or the pea shoots!) for more flavor and body. (Just using garlic chives and nothing else might be a tad overwhelming.) Since pea shoots are so tender, I’d be surprised if you needed to cook them much at all before adding them into the wonton filling. I’d do either a very brief blanch–just a few seconds or less!–or even just try chopping and mixing into the filling.
Please let me know how these work if you try them!
Hope Hill
Love the idea on th collard wontons and will definitely be giving them a try soon. Let you know how they come out. Love your recipes and blog. Would love to win the Butchboc giveaway too! I have heard good things about them.
Janet Waters
Love your blog and your recipes. I have asked my family for your book for Christmas.
Congratulations on your new little angel coming!
Samantha
lovely use of collards! can’t wait to try this recipe.
Nikki
These sound delicious, I’ve never thought of adding greens to my dumplings before
Jim
As an older person who’s eaten a small trailer load of meatballs in my life, it was a pleasant discovery when your recipe for lionhead meatballs came out. They’re now my favorite. With these collard centric wontons, your blog has now entered my top five. I recently made a collard salad from Deep Run Roots, and with that inspiration used some minced pineapple and a smidgen of lime juice in your wontons. Oh baby! Keep up the good work. Best wishes for your book’s success.
Joan E Miller
Hello! I love following your adventures and love the recipes and the photography! Thanks for an alternate way to enter your giveaway drawing! Yummy!
khamseen
Thanks for another glorious recipe.
Bette
I just found your blog through NPR’s fabulous end-of-the-year roundup of best books of 2018. I’m delighted to subscribe — I see a new favorite in my future.
Davena
Thanks for sharing these recipes. I love how the plump wontons wrinkle when cooked, can’t wait to try this!
Donna
These remind me of childhood, when I helped my mom fold wontons!
Heidi Seely
I’m so glad I found your blog! Made the Lions head meatballs for supper last night. Can’t wait to try these!
Bobbie
An interesting use of collards. They look delicious!
Why not mustards? Are mustards close to flavor of Shepherd’s Purse since they’re in the same family?
Thanks.
tworedbowls
Hi Bobbie,
That’s a fabulous idea, I think mustard greens would work wonderfully, too!
jackie byun
Excited for the giveaway!
Tina W
These look delicious! Will be at home more taking care of my Dad and intend to make this early in the new year.
Joyce
As an Asian girl who grew up in the South these dumplings are right up my alley!
Excited to make these
sillygirl
Yippey!!! Consider me entered – not that I ever win anything but it is fun to be part of the happy anticipaters. These wontons look like something I must make.
Cindy A.
These look amazing! Thank you so much for the recipe and giveaway.
Joanne
New to your blog–make potstickers but never tried wontons……until now.
Would like to take a chance on your give-away.
Lord Sakana
Beautiful food photography.
SY Lin
I would never have thought of collard greens as a substitute, but that’s good to know! And excited I can finally enter one of your giveaways!
KR
I have just joined your readership, initially introduced through the SaltFatAcidHeat segment.
What a delightful way to enjoy your blog.
Thank you.
Erika Chilton
Hello, I am so glad I just discovered your blog! The recipes sound amazing & I can’t wait to try them.Thank you so much for the very generous giveaway!
thefolia
What wrappers do you prefer to use? Can’t wait to try these…happy feasting!
Molly
Hi! These look delicious- I’m planning to make them tonight. One, maybe silly, question- Do you use the stems of the collards too or strip the leaves off the stems first?
Thank you!
Dragonfly43
I have the book and it’s not only a great read but has wonderful recipes!!!
tworedbowls
That makes my day! Thank you so much!
Biceimminna
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