The key to a good wantan/wonton noodle dish, besides the actual wontons, lies in the execution of a good sauce, and a nice sharp condiment in the form of pickled green chilies.
I find that most people have their own interpretations of what constitutes the perfect wantan/wonton. Some will add prawns, some, water chestnut. Soy sauce, mushrooms, you name it, people will put it in yellow pastry and wrap it. Some people will swear by their wantan/wonton recipes so I am not really going to bother putting in my version here (in case you ARE wondering, I go with chives, pork, mushrooms and carrots and hideous amounts of salt). Neither am I going to put instructions on how to prepare the noodles, because I'd look really silly if I formally wrote "Put noodles in hot, slightly oiled stock and boil until al dente".
But surely there is more to a wantan mee dish than just the contents of the parcels, and here are the recipes for them - the sauce mix for the noodles, and a nice piquant accompaniment in the form of pickled green chillies...
Wantan Noodle /Wonton Noodle Sauce / (possibly also Kon Loh Mein sauce) for ~2 portions
Ingredients:
2 tbsp lard
2-3 tsp light soy sauce (to taste)
A generous dash of white pepper
2 cloves garlic (or 1 big one), finely chopped
2 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
400 ml hot chicken stock
Heat the lard and gently saute the garlic until the oil is fragrant and aromatic. Mix in all the other ingredients. Stir into noodles about a teaspoon at a time, to taste (generally i find that about 2 teaspoons per noodle nest works fine), with a small ladleful of chicken stock to wet the noodles a bit. Voila. A proper wantan mee with sauce!
Pickled Green Chilies (to be prepared at LEAST the night before you want to eat the wantan mee)
1 cup vinegar (Chinese rice vinegar, or if you live in the UK, malt vinegar also tastes fine. Not tried Japanese rice vinegar yet, let me know if you have and it turns out good)
3-4 Green chilies
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
De-seed, de-vein and slice the green chillies, and put them in a bowl. Pour hot boiling water over the chilies and leave them to soak for about a minute (the longer they soak for, the less spicy they will become, and the softer the chilies - ie if you want them really hot and crunchy, blanch them for only about 15 seconds or so). Drain the water, and put the chilies in a suitable jar or container (glass or ceramic). Mix in the other ingredients and stir well. Refrigerate. The chilies should have absorbed the flavour by the next day. Yummy!
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