Spontaneous and simple: Wonton stir fry with garden greens
BY DAVID CAMPICHE
Spontaneity is the glue of creativity.
I recently found a bag of miniature
chicken and cilantro wontons in the freezer.
My wife, Laurie, and I were in the semi-an-
nual process of cleaning it out.
The dumplings needed to be eaten. They
would make for a quick and easy meal.
Meanwhile, our garden was acting like
a harvest center, with lots of bok choy, cab-
bage, chard and amaranth to enjoy. Laurie
came inside, bringing with her a good col-
lection. I was inspired to make a wonton
stir fry with a lot of garden greens, carrots,
young Napa cabbage leaves and fresh fen-
nel. I found a zucchini and a few lovely
spears of asparagus still hidden in the
refrigerator, then cooked off the dumplings.
Voila, the freezer was thinning out.
Wonton stir fry with garden greens
Ingredients
• 1 tablespoon fi nely chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon fi nely chopped ginger
• ¼ cup of minced fennel root
• ¼ cup saffl ower oil
• 16 ounces frozen wontons or 24 home-
made dumplings
• Three chopped and par-boiled carrots,
diagonally cut into small pieces
• One basket of greens: chard, bok choy,
amaranth and young Napa cabbage
leaves
• Six spears of asparagus, sliced diago-
nally into 1-inch pieces
• ¼ cup of sweet chili sauce
• ¼ cup of chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• Chive blossoms and fennel leaves for
garnish
Preparation
Chop and gather small piles of veg-
gies. In a large non-stick pan, round out this
new recipe with sautéed garlic, ginger and
chopped fennel root. Saffl ower oil works
fi ne.
Par-boil the carrots and add the wontons
to the pot at the last minute. Cook them
until just soft but with the skins fully intact.
Set aside.
Add the chopped veggies to the mixture,
tossing the mixture a few times. Place a lid
over the top and steam until the greens wilt.
Toss in the carrots and wontons, a table-
spoon of soy sauce, a splash of sweet chili
sauce and the chicken stock. Marry every-
thing together. Sprinkle chive blossoms and
chopped fennel on top. Serve immediately.
This is a shortcut recipe. It’s easy
enough to make homemade wontons using
the round frozen pastries and a fi ling.
Chicken or sausage are my favorites. Either
works well with fi nely minced onion, cilan-
tro and a bit of oyster sauce. I like to add
chopped water chestnuts but there are many
variations that one can use, any number
without meat.
If the juices are too thin, add a table-
spoon of cornstarch watered down with
water or stock. Stir into the preparation at
the last minute and let thicken.
Sometimes I make a quick sauce by
combining soy sauce, sugar, hot chili sauce,
a bit of Mr. Yoshida’s Original Sweet Teri-
yaki Marinade & Cooking Sauce and dried
red chili fl akes. Add two tablespoons of the
fi rst three ingredients, a ½ cup of Yoshida’s
and a teaspoon of the chili fl akes. I prefer
this to the sweet chili sauce.
We ate like kings and queens, all on left-
overs and garden gems.
ORIGINAL FINE ART
on the waterfront
port of ilwaco, wa
marie-powell.com
360-244-0800
Ingredients from the author’s garden helped make the meal.
10 // COASTWEEKEND.COM