A comforting bowl of Shanghai-style ‘small wontons’ in hot broth, made vegan with mince and nori – the kind of late-night noodle-shop meal that shows up in old films of the city.
A late-night Shanghai classic, gone vegan
If you watch a film set in 20th-century Shanghai, you might see street scenes at night featuring vendors with large steaming pots, cooking freshly made wonton soup. This comforting dish is traditionally enjoyed as a late-night snack or breakfast. This style of wonton, called ‘small wontons’, is traditionally made with minced pork. They are cooked very quickly and served in a hot soup, then topped with egg slices, dried shrimp, seaweed and spring onion. In this vegan version, I use vegan mince and vegetable stock.
Xiao huntun, or Shanghai-style ‘small wontons’, are delicate dumplings traditionally cooked briefly in stock and served as a late-night snack or breakfast in Shanghai. This vegan version uses vegan mince and vegetable stock, and comes together in about 35 minutes.
Recipe at a glance
Serves: 2
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 5 minutes
Ingredients
- 10 g fresh ginger, finely chopped
- 200 g vegan mince
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon vegan oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 30 wonton wrappers
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon Chinese five-spice
- 800 ml vegetable stock
- 10 g nori (dried seaweed), crushed
- 2 spring onions (scallions), sliced, to serve
Method
- Mix the ginger with 90 ml of water and set aside for 5 minutes, then strain, reserving the ginger water. Mix the vegan mince, reserved ginger water, soy sauce, vegan oyster sauce and ½ teaspoon of the ground white pepper in a bowl.
- Take a wonton wrapper on your palm, place a teaspoon of the vegan mince mixture on the wrapper, then press your thumb and index finger together to close the wrapper. If the wrapper is too dry and does not close, sprinkle a little water on the edge and seal to close. Set aside on a lined tray while you repeat with remaining wrappers to make 30 wontons.
- Divide the salt, sesame oil, five-spice and remaining pepper between two serving bowls.
- Bring the vegetable stock to the boil in a pot over medium heat. Add the nori and wontons and cook for 1–2 minutes until they float. Divide the wontons and the soup between the bowls. Sprinkle with spring onions to serve.
Recipe by Yang Liu, from Vegan Asian Street Food (Hardie Grant Books, RRP AUD$45.00). Photography by Katharina Pinczolits.
