荠菜馄饨 Shanghai Wontons
Unlike har gow 虾饺, the quintessential Cantonese dim sum dumpling, 荠菜馄饨 are the Shanghai-style wontons known for the fragrant local herb shepherd’s purse. What I did not realize is that a second “secret” ingredient—bok choy—makes these wontons truly sing.
The logic is simple: shepherd’s purse brings its distinctive herbal flavor, but because it is often harvested wild, its leaves can be thin and its stems stringy, which can make the filling feel dry. A common kitchen green such as bok choy adds much-needed plumpness and crunch.
I was lucky to find an excellent recipe built around this combination. Frozen shepherd’s purse, sold in one-pound bags, can often be found at Asian grocers. Store-bought wonton wrappers are another secret to making a big batch of homemade wontons quickly and easily. Unlike store-bought dumpling wrappers—the round kind—which are often not fresh enough to seal reliably, wonton skins are far more forgiving.
I found these green ones labeled “vegetable wonton skins,” though on closer inspection they also contained yellow and blue food coloring to achieve such a vibrant shade.
Ingredients:
Frozen shepherd’s purse, 1 pound
Fresh Bok Choi, 1 pound
Ground pork, 1 pound
Dried shitaki mushrooms, soaked in boiling water for 20 minutes
Scallions and ginger, lots and finely chopped
Ground white pepper, 1/2 tsp
Salt, 8-10g
Soy sauce, 1 tsp
Vegetable juice from squeezing the greens, 100g
Sesame oil, 15g
Instructions:
Bring water to boil in pot
Blanch frozen shepherd’s purse until cooked through, about 1-2 minutes (no need to boil)
Add cleaned bok choi to the same boiling pot of water and blanch the same way
Rinse both under cold water and squeeze dry
Put greens in food processor and grind into fine pieces
Squeeze the ground vegetables and use the sieve to save the vegetable juice (save 100g and set aside)
Mince soaked dried mushrooms and stir fry with 1 tbsp oil, season with a little salt, soy sauce, and sugar, and then add a little water to steam for a few minutes. The seasoning used here are not included in the ingredients list above. Set aside
Add scallion, ginger, white pepper powder, salt, and soy sauce to ground pork in medium bowl.
Add 50g of vegetable juice and work into ground pork and seasoning by hand, in clockwise circular motion
Add the remaining 50g of vegetable juice and repeat until liquid is completely absorbed, set aside
Mix pork, mushroom, and greens together with sesame oil. This last step is important as it locks in the the moisture in the stuffing. Otherwise the stuffing may taste too dry.