Smoked salmon & garlic chive wontons with chilli oil
When I first started this blog, some 7 years ago, I was completely mad for dumplings. I couldn’t get enough of them! Rarely did I make them at home, but instead I trundled about town inhaling anything in my path that resembled a dumpling.
The beauty about making dumplings at home, however, is that you don’t really need to make the pastry. Some may look at this as being lazy, but when you can grab a packet of ready-rolled, perfectly thin gow gee wrappers from the supermarket or Asian grocer – why not just do it?
A lump of hot smoked salmon was peering at me from the fridge, tempting me to nibble away at its rosy flakes until there was nothing left. I’m like that with hot smoked salmon, and find no qualms with eating it on its own.
Until the image of dumplings entered my mind.
Something really simple. A no-brainer that required a handful of ingredients and next to no effort.
So my hot smoked salmon wontons were born. There was already half a tub of mascarpone in the fridge, the salmon was good to go, and all I needed was garlic chives and gow gee wrappers.
A simple mix of the filling ingredients, some folding and curling finger action, a quick steam and I was, once again, in dumpling nirvana.
The way I’ve folded them also makes the wontons a perfect vehicle to catch and hold the bold and smoky chilli oil I splashed all over them. Grab my simple recipe for the oil here.
| Servings |
dumplings
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- 100 g mascarpone
- 2 tbsp garlic chives chopped
- ¼ tsp each Salt & black pepper
- 100 g hot smoked salmon flaked
- 30 round gow gee wrappers
- chilli oil recipe link in notes
Ingredients
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- Mix the mascarpone, garlic chives, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Mix through the flaked salmon.
- Lay the gow gee wrappers on your work bench and top each with 1 teaspoon of the salmon filling. Wet the tip of your finger with water and run it around the edge of the gow gee wrapper - not too much water, though.
- Fold one side of the wrapper over the filling to form a semi-circle, gently pressing around the filling and pushing any air pockets out.
- Turn the wonton upright so the edge is now facing up. Curl it around tightly, wet one of the corners, and press it against the opposite corner. Repeat with the remaining gow gee wrappers.
- Prepare a steamer by lining the bottom with a round of baking paper, stab it many times with a paring knife or skewer. This allows the steam to penetrate through to the wontons. Arrange the filled wontons in the lined steamer, put the lid on, then steam over boiling water for 4-5 minutes.
- Serve hot, drizzled with chilli oil.
