Shanghai Pork and Bok Choy Wontons

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Che vey! are the words said by everyone around my grandmother’s dinner table every Sunday for many years of my childhood. It is Shanghai-nese for "eat rice" which is like saying "bon appetite" before you begin a meal. This authentic Shanghai Pork and Bok Choy Wontons recipe originated from my Shanghainese grandmother who passed her technique to my father and then to me. Filled with ground pork and bok choy, these wontons are my favourite kind of dumplings of all and the ultimate comfort food!

"Wontons" in general can be varied in their fillings, their folded-shape and the wrappers themselves, depending on the region of China from whence they originate. Shanghai Pork and Bok Choy Dumplings are filled with ground pork & bok choy and are folded using square-shaped wrappers. You can substitute ground chicken or turkey if you don’t eat pork but you may want to add a bit of oil to the filling since ground poultry is usually leaner. You need some fat for a juicy bite!

The term “dumpling” is a broad term to include many varieties with different fillings and different wrappers including round wrappers and the yellow wrappers for Cantonese shrimp dumplings. The round wrappers tend to be slightly thicker than the square wonton wrappers, giving a slightly different mouth-feel when you eat them. Round wrappers can simply be folded into half moons or pleated into fancier shapes such as these. My sister and I spent many childhood hours pleating such dumplings, often to the soundtracks of Phantom of the Opera or Mikado which are my mom’s favourite musicals - very nostalgic! 😄

Sometimes when we feel decadent (not lazy), we tuck a tiny morsel of raw shrimp in the filling too. Shrimp was always present in my grandma’s wontons. She was not lazy. The bok choy in the filling is what makes the preparation a little more involved because it is a watery vegetable that releases a lot of liquid when cooed. It is ESSENTIAL to squeeze a lot of the liquid out of the blanched bok choy greens before mixing with the meat and seasonings for the filling. In my opinion, this step is a definite differentiator between perfect Shanghai dumplings and the often mediocre store-bought or restaurant ones. If the liquid is not adequately squeezed out, the filling is loose and doesn’t have that proper firmness that is crucial for the overall ideal mouth-feel.

We adore eating these Shanghai Pork and Bok Choy Wontons very simply boiled in water and served in a light chicken broth for a cozy meal. Other times we pan-fry a batch too for crispy wontons. Both methods are provided in the recipe card below.

Enjoy them with chilli oil, a simple dipping sauce that takes seconds to make (recipe below) or with my recipe for The Best Dumpling Sauce if you have 3 extra minutes to make it. Homemade dumplings are a labor of love but SO WORTH IT. Click play on your favourite playlist or podcast and get to it 🤗🥟

Che vey!

Sonia

Served with my recipe for The Best Dumpling Sauce

🎥 Watch video for Shanghai Pork and Bok Choy Wontons

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steps at a glance:

How to make Shanghai Pork and Bok Choy Wontons:

(scroll down for full printable recipe card)

• Saute Bok Choy briefly to wilt the leaves and soften the stems slightly. It doesn’t need to be fully cooked at this point.

• Place in food processor, but don’t overload or results will be uneven

• Depending on size of your wok/pan and size of food processor, you’ll likely need to do this step in 3-4 batches

• Pulse Bok Choy until pieces are quite small but not all the way to a puree! See image below for size reference

• Transfer processed bok choy into a nutmilk bag (or similar such as cheesecloths). Do this over a shallow dish to catch the liquid because mixture is gonna be quite wet even before squeezing!

• Squeeze firmly to rid excess liquid. Aim to squeeze out 80-85% of the moisture (not ALL!) being mindful not to squeeze until it is bone-dry because we still want some moisture for a juicy filling

• You can expect to squeeze out quite a lot of liquid - that’s about 1/2 cup of liquid in one batch! Discard the liquid

• Add squeezed bok choy into a mixing bowl along with remaining filling ingredients and seasoning - ground pork, soy sauce, salt, sugar and white pepper

• Mix vigorously until filling pulls together into a paste-y consistency

• Use filling to wrap wontons with square wrappers (or dumplings with round wrappers)

How to fold Wontons using square wrappers:

1) Place filling in center of wrapper

2) Fold in half

3) Curl down halfway almost as if to fold in half again

4) Bring the left and right bottom corners together, one on top of the other

5) Dampen with water and press firmly to attach

🎥 Watch video for How to fold a Wonton:

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Tips and FAQs

How to properly wash bok choy (so many crevices for bugs and soil!)

Bok Choy can trap a ton of soil and/or little insects. If using regular-sized bok choy, trim ends to separate the stems. I skip this step with baby bok choy. Take care to wash bok choy very well because there is often soil trapped inside the joints where the stems meet. I prefer to wash mine by soaking them 15 minutes in a large sink of water with a generous pour (~3/4 cup) of white vinegar.  I always soak leafy veggies in vinegar water but it is optional. (Note: make sure first wash your sink very well with dish detergent since kitchen sinks can harbour a lot of bacteria). Ensure there is enough water in the sink so the bok choys are suspended and not touching the bottom. Soaking this way releases a lot of the soil to the bottom of the sink which we easily discard down the drain. Rinse each bok choy individually under running water ensuring there is no stubborn soil remaining. Drain in large colander. 

Why do you par-cook the bok choy?

This is something my family does which I consider a critical step for the best Shanghai dumplings, for THREE REASONS: (1) to release some of the liquid because a wet filling is a no-no for dumplings of any kind, (2) to wilt them so the large volume is easier to handle and are easier to squeeze the liquid out of them and (3) removes grassy flavour of raw bok choy

Option to add additional ground meat to the filling

I intentionally go heavy on the bok choy in my dumpling filling because that’s how I like it — a 3:1 ratio of bok choy to pork. Sometimes I add another pound of meat to stretch the filling farther for more dumplings. Depending on preference, you can easily go as much as 3 total pounds of ground meat for a 1:1 ratio for bok choy to meat. Add more seasonings to taste.

Always taste the filling and adjust seasoning before wrapping dumplings

This may seem like a small point but it is one of the biggest tips when making dumplings. Microwave a teaspoon of the filling for 30 seconds (or whenever cooked through) and taste it for seasoning. Add and adjust as needed to ensure the filling tastes perfect. The rookie mistake is — after folding a hundred dumplings later — realizing upon first bite that the filling was not seasoned properly.

Best way to boil dumplings so the wrapper stays bouncy

Use a large pot of boiling water and avoid overcrowding - you may need to cook in several batches. Bring water to a rolling boil and add dumplings. Boil until dumplings bob up to the top, about 1-2 minutes. Pour in 1 cup of cold tap water and wait for it to return to a rolling boil, about 45-60 seconds. For fresh (not frozen) dumplings, filling should be cooked by now. Drain or scoop out with a long-handled strainer to serve. See below for pan fry method and cooking from frozen.

Can I panfry these?

Definitely! To panfry, drizzle 1 tbsp oil into 10-11” non-stick skillet (it’s important that it be non-stick for this). Arrange dumplings in concentric circles in the pan, not touching. Pour 1 cup cold tap water all over the dumplings. Cover and turn heat to medium-high. Cook until water reaches a rolling boil and most of the water has evaporated (about 6-7 minutes). Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking until dumpling bottoms are golden and crispy. This exact method works for fresh or frozen dumplings — see below for cooking from frozen.

Freezing wontons (and cooking from frozen):

Wontons freeze well for up to a month.  To freeze, lay them in a single layer not touching on a parchment-lined sheetpan.  Freeze at least a couple of hours or until they are quite firm.  Once firm, you can toss them into a freezer-safe container or freezer-safe zip top bag with the air squeezed out.  To boil from frozen: Do not defrost. Place frozen wontons directly into boiling water and follow the same method as Cooking Wontons Right Away (see recipe card below). It will take a little longer for them to bob to the top. Add the cup of cold tap water and bring it back to a boil. Repeat with another cup of tap water and bring back to a boil. Dumplings should be done. To panfry from frozen: Follow the same instructions for cooking fresh dumplings, adding 2-3 more minutes to total cooking time. If unsure, cut one in half to check that filling is piping hot and meat is no longer pink.

How can I be sure dumplings are cooked through?

If you're ever unsure whether a dumpling is cooked, cut one in half to confirm raw meat is no longer pink OR insert an instant read thermometer into the centre of the filling to confirm it is at least 165f (74c).

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You may be interested in these recipes

• The Best Dumpling Sauce

• Easy Peanut Sauce for Dumplings (or Noodles)

• Chinese Pork and Chives Dumplings

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Shanghai Pork and Bok Choy Wontons

Recipe makes 95-100 dumplings.

Yield: 90-100

Author: sonia wong | www.saltnpepperhere.com

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Shanghai Pork and Bok Choy Wontons

This authentic Shanghai Wontons recipe was passed from my Shanghai-nese grandmother to my dad and to me. These dumplings filled with pork and bok choy are the ultimate comfort food. Hands down my favourite dumplings of them all!

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Ingredients

For the filling:

• 1 lb (450g) raw ground pork
• 3 lb (1350g) baby bok choy or regular bok choy
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp kosher salt (increase to 2 tsp if using Diamond Crystal kosher salt)
• 1½ tsp sugar
• 3 dashes of white pepper powder

For wrapping wontons:

• 650g wonton wrappers, 3” square size (about 90-100)
• Small dish of tap water for sealing edges

For a super simple dipping sauce:

• Equal parts soy sauce and rice vinegar, plus Chinese chili oil to taste

Optional for serving in a light broth:

• 3 C chicken stock
• Thinly sliced scallions to garnish

Instructions

For the filling:

1. Preheat large wok or heavy-bottom pot over medium to medium-high heat. Drizzle a tablespoon of neutral high heat oil. In batches, add bok choy and sauté 8-10 minutes or until wilted but not cooked all the way.
2. Drain bok choy in a large colander and allow to cool while you continue with the rest. There may already be liquid draining out. But just wait, there’s gonna be a lot more liquid to remove!
3. In batches, place bok choy into food processor. Pulse 20-25 times or until it’s broken down into small pieces. The pieces should be small enough that when combined with ground pork, the filling feels homogenous in your mouth, but don’t puree it into liquid! Look at the blog image for reference.
4. Once again working in batches, place finely-chopped bok choy into a nutmilk or cheesecloth bag (or wrap securely inside a large doubled-up sheet of cheese cloth or kitchen towel). Squeeze most of the liquid out. This is a CRUCIAL step otherwise your filling will be too wet. If you don't have cheesecloth or bag, press bok choy against the edges of the colander to squeeze out the liquid, aiming to get 80-85% of the liquid out but don’t squeeze to bone-dry because we do want some of that moisture in the filling! As you can see in the website images, there is a lot of liquid in the sautéed bok choy. You’ll likely squeeze out ¾-1 cup of liquid per pound of bok choy.
5. Add well-squeezed bok choy into a large mixing bowl along with the ground pork, salt, soy sauce, sugar and white pepper powder. Mix well to combine.
6. Lastly, mix filling vigorously for 5 minutes. This step is to tenderize the meat and pull everything together to form a tighter, more paste-y consistency, which will yield a bouncier mouthfeel when you bite into a dumpling. Your arm will be very tired doing this but don't skip it!
7. Always recommended for dumpling fillings - taste it! Put a small teaspoon on a dish and microwave it 30 seconds or when cooked through. Eat and adjust seasonings until it is right.

For wrapping:

1. Fill each 3" square wonton wrapper with a heaped 1 tsp to 1.5 teaspoon of filling. Resist the tendency to overfill. The ratio of filling-to-dough affects the overall mouth-feel. Furthermore, an overstuffed wonton will explode as soon as it hits the boiling water during cooking. If you’re using larger wonton wrappers (more than 3” square), place more filling while maintaining the approximate ratio as you see in the blog post images.
2. STEPS 1-6 CORRESPOND TO STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS ON THE SITE: (1) Place the filling in the center of the wonton wrapper (2) Fold halfway up, and very gently squeeze around the filling to secure it (3) Curl the wrapper horizontally halfway and (4) begin pulling the lower two corners towards each other (5) Dab a bit of cold water onto the corner parts that will touch (i.e. the bottom of the left corner + top of the right corner) and overlap them (6) Gently squeeze the overlapped corners to stick them together.
3. Voila! One down, 99 more to go. There are other ways to fold wontons with square wrappers but this is how my family does it.

To cook dumplings right away:

1. To cook the fresh wontons, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season it with salt the way you would when cooking pasta. Once at a rolling boil, slide the wontons into the pot carefully so as not to scald yourself. Do not overcrowd the pot - you may need to cook in several batches. Boil until the wontons bob up to the top, about 1-2 minutes. Pour about a cup of cold tap water into the pot and wait for it to come to a boil again, about 45 seconds. Drain and scoop out with a long-handled strainer.

Options for serving:

1. We enjoy them simply boiled like this, with a dipping sauce (see Dipping Sauce ingredients) or serve the boiled wontons in homemade chicken broth which is the ultimate cozy meal on a wintry night. OR when we haven’t gobbled them up too quickly, we let them stand 10-15 minutes after boiling to dry out slightly, then panfry on a skillet in a bit oil, until golden brown on the edges. I love any and all of these options!

To freeze dumplings:

1. At this point the wontons can be frozen enjoy another day. Place them in a single layer, not touching, on a baking sheet lined with parchment and put into the freezer for an hour or so. Transfer them into a freezer bag or container. To cook, do not defrost. Place frozen wontons directly into boiling water and follow the same method as Cooking Wontons Right Away (above). It will take a little longer for them to bob to the top. Then add the cup of cold water and re-boil the same way.

Recommended Products

8-10" rolling pin

Sheetpan for holding / freezing dumplings

Nutrition Facts

Calories

40

Fat

1 g

Sat. Fat

0 g

Carbs

5 g

Fiber

0 g

Net carbs

5 g

Sugar

0 g

Protein

2 g

Sodium

114 mg

Cholesterol

5 mg

Disclaimer: nutritional information is auto-generated and should be used as an approximation.

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Wontons boiled + served in broth

Wontons boiled, drained well then pan-fried in a skillet with oil. Served with Chinese chili oil

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