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Hoành Thánh Chay (Sweet Potato and Water Chestnut Wontons)

By Uyen Luu

5.0

(1)

Sweet potato and water chestnut wontons on a plate.
Photo by Uyen Luu

There is nothing better than making a batch of wontons with a loved one and having a good old natter about everything and nothing at all. The tranquillity and comfort usually seeps into the pleats and folds. These vegetarian wontons are great deep-fried, poached, or steamed. They can be enjoyed with lots of sauce and a side of blanched greens; they garnish delicious noodle soups as more-ish toppings.

This recipe was excerpted from ‘Vietnamese Vegetarian’ by Uyen Luu. Buy the full book on Amazon.

What you’ll need

Recipe information

  • Yield

    Makes approx. 24 wontons

Ingredients

For the perilla and black vinegar sauce

1 ½ Tbsp. black vinegar
3 Tbsp. perilla sauce or 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
2 tsp. shop-bought crispy chile oil

For the wontons

200 g (7 oz) cauliflower, broken into ½ in florets
300 g (10 ½ oz) sweet potato or pumpkin, peeled, sliced into ½-inch pieces
1 Tbsp. canola oil
80 g (3 oz) edamame beans, or asparagus or green beans, sliced into ¼-inch pieces
80 g (3 oz) water chestnuts, chopped into ¼-inch cubes
1 Tbsp. sushi ginger, finely chopped
3 scallions, finely sliced
¾ tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 Tbsp. cornstarch, for dusting
1 pack of shop-bought 3 x 3-inch wonton wrappers

For deep-frying

Neutral oil

For poaching

1 Tbsp. sesame oil

For garnish

scallion, sliced 

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Preheat your oven to 400°F.

    Step 2

    Make the sauce by mixing the ingredients together. Set aside.

    Step 3

    Place the cauliflower and sweet potato onto a baking sheet. Drizzle and toss with the oil and bake for 25–25 minutes.

    Step 4

    When the vegetables are done, let them cool slightly before roughly mashing the sweet potato in a mixing bowl. Add the cauliflower, edamame, water chestnuts, sushi ginger, and spring onions. Sprinkle with the sea salt and gently fold it altogether with the sesame oil.

    Step 5

    To make the dumplings, sprinkle a little cornstarch onto a tray. Place a wonton wrapper onto the palm of your hand and place 1 tablespoon of the filling in the middle. Fold into a triangle and roughly pleat together. Place it on the tray. This technique is great for deep-frying. If you would like to poach the wontons, pleat them into gold sacks by folding into a triangle then pinching inwards until the wrappers gather at the top, before placing the wontons on a tray. Repeat.

    Step 6

    To deep-fry: Heat about 2 inches of oil to 320°F in a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven, and fry in batches for about 3 minutes on each side or until blistering and golden. Drain on paper towels.

    Step 7

    To poach: Place in a pan of boiling water and poach in batches for 4 minutes, at which point they should float to the top. Leave to poach for another minute before draining and then gently tossing in the sesame oil.

    Step 8

    To serve, place on a platter and pour the perilla sauce all over it. Scatter with spring onion.

Vietnamese Vegetarian-COVER.jpg
Excerpted with permission from Vietnamese Vegetarian by Uyen Luu published by ‎Hardie Grant Publishing. Buy the full book from Amazon or Hardie Grant Publishing.
TagsCookbooksVietnameseSoutheast AsianAsianDumplingSweet PotatoPotatoRoot VegetableVegetableVegetarianLunchStarterDinnerMainDeep FryPoachEdamameBean and Legume

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