Vegetarian Wontons with Spicy Soy Dipping Sauce

I know kids are supposed to ‘only eat’ mac and cheese, pizza, plain pasta, and hot dogs… but Autumn is a bit more adventurous than that. And I love it!

One day while Autumn and I were shopping at Trader Joe’s, they were sampling their vegetable dumplings. Since dinner time was fast approaching I grabbed her a sample for her to try. Well, no surprise here, but she loved it. I actually, politely, asked for another sample for her since she enjoyed it so much. It was just enough to carry her over so we could finish shopping and head home.

She enjoyed the samples so much that I grabbed some vegetable dumpling bags so that I would have them on hand for dinner. They work perfectly as they are quick to prepare, as 2-3 only take about a minute in the microwave. Plus, they the easy for her to grip to feed herself. I break a cooled dumpling into 3-4 pieces which she immediately picks up and shovels into her mouth. So cute!

Well, it’s great to always have something that she loves on hand for her to have for dinner, but my issue with these delicious dumplings is the amount of sodium they have. You know, infants, in fact kids under 2 years of age, are only supposed to have 370-400 mg of salt a day. The Trader Joe’s dumplings have soy sauce in the filling so they are on the borderline of what is acceptable for Autumn.

Well, Amy from Fearless Homemaker has come to my rescue! While I was looking around for a yummy recipe for this month’s Secret Recipe Club post I came across her recipe for Vegetarian Pot Stickers. They sounded great and I loved that not only would we be able to enjoy them but Autumn would too. In fact I didn’t add any salt to the mixture making these really healthy for us and her Autumn.

 

Dumplings are so much fun to make!! I haven’t made them in years but it all cam right back to me, just like riding a bike. It was fun to do the filling, sealing, and folding. When doing it just be sure not to put in too much filling or you won’t be able to seal the wonton skins properly.

 

I fried the ones that Price and I ate but the ones for Autumn were frozen and then when I was serving them were put into a small microwave safe bowl and microwaved until they were just warmed through. She loved them!

I did get a bit lazy and didn’t make the whole batch of wontons so I just kept the filling so that we could just give her that on her highchair table. Basically the filling is sooo good. I want to try some egg roll wrappers next time and maybe jazz things up further with some ground chicken in there as well. yum!!

Be sure to check out all the great recipes that Amy has on her blog. Plus, she shares very cute updates on her young daughter, . She is just a few months older than Autumn so I love checking out what she is up to on there and on Instagram so that I have a peak at what is to come in the next few months. So much fun!

 Vegetarian Wontons with Spicy Soy Dipping Sauce

Makes 24-48 wontons, depends on the size of wonton skin you use

Ingredients

• 1 red onion thinly sliced
• 1 Tablespoon minced/grated ginger
• 8 oz diced shiitake mushrooms
• 2 cups white cabbage, shredded
• 1 cup carrots, shredded
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (I used Gourmet Garden’s cilantro paste)
• 1 12 oz package wonton/dumpling skins
• wok oil for frying

for the dipping sauce

• 1/3 cup thin soy sauce
• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup sliced scallions
• 1 tablespoon sambal

Process

1. In a wok or large saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon wok oil over medium heat. Sautee the red onion and ginger 3-4 minutes.
2. Add the mushrooms and cook until the mixture is soft. Stir in the cabbage, carrots, green onion and cook until the cabbage is soft.
3. Remove from heat and drain, if needed.  Add the cilantro when the mixture is cooled.
4. Lay out the wonton wrappers/gyoza skins on a clean surface. Place a teaspoon of the filling in the center of the wonton wrapper
5. Either fry or steam the wontons to cook them.
   1. To fry the wontons, place a 2 Tablespoons of wok oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add a few wontons to the oil and brown all sides.
   2. To Steam the wontons, pour just enough oil to cover a large skillet ( about 1 teaspoon). Heat the oil over medium heat, add the wontons. When the bottoms get golden brown, add 1/4 cup of water, then immediately cover. This only takes a few minutes so be sure the water does not completely evaporate allowing the dumplings to stick to the skillet
6. To make the dipping sauce, combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Serve along side of the hot wontons.

Adapted from Fearless Homemaker

_____________________

Check out all the other FANTASTIC bloggers who are participating in SRC today!. Such great recipes!! 🙂

Check out my 2+ years of Secret Recipe Club posts!!!!

____________________

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.