Chinese Cuisine: Beef Wontons

The kids love Chinese food. And whenever we order it, we always start with wontons! So we are excited to pick these little dumplings as our cooking project for the week and are surprised to find out that wontons are actually very quick and easy to make…And even more surprised to see that the homemade version goes over even better than the restaurant variety!

Before getting ready to cook we read a bit about Chinese cuisine in DK’s China. Interestingly, we learn that about 60% of this vast country’s population live off the last but only about 15% of the land in China is able to be cultivated. Even so, the country produces more rice, wheat, sweet potatoes, cotton, silk and tobacco than any other country. The kids are quick to add that China also produced just about every toy they own!

We already know that people eat with chopsticks in China but it’s interesting to learn that disposable chopsticks have now been banned there to reduce waste (an average of 45 billion pairs were used and tossed out each year!).

Next we read some lovely storybooks that all seem to touch on Asia’s cuisine.

The Seven Chinese Sisters is already familiar to us because CZ played the dragon in the play a few years ago! Lots of noodle soup…

Bamboo Hats and a Rice Cake is a traditional tale about the powers of kindness and Jizo, a divinity of the Buddhist faith.

One Grain of Rice is a fabulous Indian folktale about famine, a selfish raja and a very clever girl. And one great math lesson.

After reading about barrels of rice, oodles of noodles and one very large rice cake, we are hungry and ready to cook! So off to the kitchen we go…

This is how we made Beef Wontons:

AZ and HZ carefully dice four scallions.

CZ mixes 1/2 a pound of ground beef with 3 tablespoons of water and 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, plus one egg, and then adds in the finely chopped scallions…

We use a package of these wonton wrappers that we found in the produce department of our grocery store…

I scoop a small spoonful of the meat mixture onto each wonton wrapper and the kids dip their finger in a cup of water and then trace around the edge of the wonton square.

Now fold the square in half and press the sides together…

Next squeeze the two far ends of the triangle together with a bit of water to help them stick..

We put them on tin foil until it’s time to cook them…

The wontons can be cooked by boiling, steaming or frying them. We decide to steam them (for about 8 minutes) and then pan fry for a minute to crisp them. They’re ready…

And they are a hit! ( But HOT!)

We serve them with some other Asian dishes…Hummus with pita, and lentils from the Middle East. And noodles with vegetables and sushi from Japan. Rice, as we now know, is a staple throughout the continent!

To drink we give Lychee juice a try…

And Japanese Sangaria soda…

Cheers!