Coaching Cooking

I invented this recipe because I had so much leftover chicken after making the white chop chicken last week. Many of the chicken pieces were cooked lightly so the chicken was still tender and even slightly undercooked. I invented these chicken wontons because I knew they would be flavorful and juicy (and I had ingredients on hand…the perfect cuisine inventor’s pairing).

I hope you enjoy them as much as we did. AB says they’re his new favorites!

Jenny’s Chicken Wontons

Ingredients:

2 cups of diced, cooked chicken (preferably chicken that is not dry or overcooked…undercooked, steamed chicken works really well in this recipe)
3 green onions, sliced white and green parts
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
3-4 dashes of Sriracha chili sauce
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
3 tablespoons of Japanese Panko breadcrumbs
1 package of square wonton wrappers
2 eggs, one for the chicken mixture and one beaten for later use
4-5 cups of canola or vegetable oil

Directions:

Dice the chicken and place in a food processor. Add the sliced green onions, soy sauce, chili sauce and one raw egg and blend until well combined. This chicken mixture should have a paste-like consistency. Remove the chicken mixture from the food processor and mix in the sesame seeds and breadcrumbs by hand.

Place about 1 teaspoon of the chicken filling per wonton. Wet two adjacent edges of the wonton wrapper with raw egg (just enough to seal) and fold the wonton wrapper over the filling to form a triangle.

Fry the wontons in canola or vegetable oil on medium-low heat. Turn the wontons over when the edges start to brown. The wontons should cook in about 4-5 minutes. Adjust the heat if the wontons seem to brown too quickly. This particular wonton cooks more quickly because the chicken filling is already partially cooked.

Serve chicken wontons with ketchup and sweet chili sauce (in separate bowls). We ate ours with some cocktails…gin and tonics and rum and cokes. It was a little like college with a side of 50s appetizers. Yee-ha!

Wontons can be made ahead of time and reheated in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. They can also be frozen and reheated in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.