Vegetarian cold wontons

Last Updated on June 23, 2021 by Simon Fan

In the US, Chinese wontons are usually served in a broth. A nice bowl of wonton soup is the ultimate comfort food, especially for cold and rainy nights.

During hot weather, however, a better way to enjoy wontons is to serve them cold without the broth. In fact, cold wontons (冷馄饨), together with cold noodles (冷面), are among the most popular summer dishes in Shanghai, my hometown. Every household makes them and every noodle shop serves them. Even high-end restaurants add them to their summer specials or risk losing customers.

When it’s hot out there, who wouldn’t want a plate of refreshing cold wontons draped in an aromatic sauce?

The most important step of preparing cold wontons after boiling them is to spread them out in a colander to let them drain and cool. I like to use a fan to help with the cooling process. Once they’ve cooled, you can further chill them briefly in the refrigerator before serving with a sauce, typically made with sesame or peanut paste, vinegar, and flavored oil—all adding layers of flavor to the wontons.

You can make the wontons with any filling you like. One of my other posts (click here) would show you how to make a meat and vegetable filling and how to wrap wontons in a typical Shanghainese way.

My recipe below introduces a vegetarian filling using tofu, bok choy, and dried shiitake mushrooms. I’ll also show you a different way of wrapping wontons—the way they make them in Sichuan—by first folding the wrapper into a triangular shape, then bringing the two ends of the triangle to overlap each other, creating a shape that resembles a person with “folded arms”, or chao shou (抄手) in Mandarin.

Vegetarian cold wontons

Makes 24 wontons

Ingredients

Filling
6 oz (170 g) Shanghai bok choy
½ teaspoon salt
2 oz (60 g) dried black (shiitake) mushrooms, rehydrated in warm water for about 30 minutes
4 oz (115 g) pressed tofu, cut into ⅙-inch (4 mm) dice
1 large egg
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons vegetarian stir-fry sauce (or oyster sauce if you like)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
¼ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

24 square wonton wrappers

Sauce
1 teaspoon sesame paste
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Zhenjiang (aka Chinkiang) vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil or chili oil

1 scallion, thinly sliced

Directions

1. Roughly chop the bok choy and mix them with the salt in a colander. Let stand for 10 minutes. Squeeze the bok choy to remove as much liquid as possible. Finely chop the bok choy and squeeze again to remove excess liquid.
2. Squeeze the soaked mushrooms to remove excess water, and trim the stems (they’re great for making stocks). Cut the mushrooms into small dice. In a large bowl, mix well the bok choy and mushrooms with the rest of the ingredients for the filling, and let stand for 10 minutes for flavors to blend. If you like, cook ½ tablespoon of the filling in the microwave to taste the seasoning and adjust as needed.
3. On a work surface, lay out a wonton wrapper diagonally with one corner pointing at you, as shown in the picture. Place a portion of the filling (about a scant tablespoon) in the center of the wrapper. Moisten the two edges closer to you with water, then fold the top corner over the filling to meet the bottom one. Press to seal the edges.
4. Moisten the right corner with water. Holding the wonton in your hands, slightly lift the center while bringing the two corners around to overlap, moistened corner underneath, and then press to seal. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling.
5. Cook the wontons in boiling water until they stay afloat and fully cooked through, about 6 minutes. Drain them in a colander and spread them out to cool. If you like, use a fan to expedite the cooling process.
6. To make the sauce, mix the sesame paste with the water in a bowl until well combined. Add the other ingredients for the sauce and mix well (a small whisk does a nice job).
7. Briefly chill the cooled wontons in the refrigerator for 10 minutes before serving. Drizzle the sauce on top, garnish with the scallion, and enjoy!