Now that I’ve flipped my calendar to “November,” my mind can begin to digest the holiday season. By the way, even though we’re in November, it’s not time for Christmas yet. So, Best Buy, Michaels, and every other retail store, can we please hold off on the Christmas commercials and ads until I’ve had my turkey and pumpkin pie?
When I lived in the East Coast, I never went home for Thanksgiving because (1) I had to start studying for finals and (2) holiday plane tickets are ridiculously expensive! (<— Nothing new there.) Instead, I celebrated friends-giving. Even though I have moved back to California, I want to keep this friends-giving tradition alive, so I’m planning 2 food-centric gatherings. Why have one when you can have two, right? But really, I’m just looking for any excuse to gather my friends together to eat. Bring on the stretchy yoga pants!!
Have you ever tried Trader Joe’s Thai Shrimp Potstickers before? For frozen potstickers in a bag, they’re pretty darn good. These baked Thai shrimp wontons are inspired by those TJ potstickers I ate a month ago when I was too lazy to cook. Yes, food bloggers eat frozen meals, too. Once in a while . . .
I haven’t actually decided which dishes to make for my friends-giving meals yet, but these shrimp wontons might make an appearance. And by the way, it’s definitely not weird to have shrimp for Thanksgiving. My Thanksgiving dinners growing up were seafood affairs, with the occasional appearance of a soy sauce chicken. Mama Lin was not accustomed to the big bird.
Folding these wontons are not as intimidating as it looks! All you’re doing is just gathering up all the corners and sealing the dumpling by pinching the edges together. The “X” shape just magically appears! If you want to practice the folding technique before making these wontons, just cut out a sheet of square paper and fold away.
Baked Thai Shrimp Wontons
Ingredients
- 8 oz (225g) raw shrimp or jumbo prawns, with shells still on
- 2/3 cup (40g) chopped savoy cabbage (any other cabbage works also)
- 2 green onion stalks, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 TBS minced lemongrass
- 1 TBS minced ginger, about a 1″ piece of ginger minced
- 1 TBS low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 25 wonton wrappers
- 1 large egg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet with oil or cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, mix the cabbage with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and set aside. After 10 minutes, squeeze out all the excess water from the cabbage.
- Shell and de-vein the shrimp. Then, chop it into smaller pieces.
- In a medium bowl, mix the shrimp, cabbage, green onions, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil together.
- Scramble the egg in a small bowl.
- Take a wonton wrapper, and fill it with around 2 teaspoons of filling. Resist the temptation to put a lot of filling in the wontons! It’ll make the wontons less crispy and more difficult to wrap. Using your index finger, rub the egg along all 4 edges of the wonton wrapper. Fold 2 corners together, and seal up that side of the wonton. Fold in the other two corners so that all corners meet together. An X-shaped tent should start to form. Seal up the wonton by pressing the edges together.
- Place the wontons onto the baking sheet. Bake the wontons for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.
- Serve with your favorite dips. The wontons are best when they’re still warm!
A look into the produce in my refrigerator . . .
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says
I can see how these a the perfect crowd pleaser!
I interchange calling them green onions and scallions! To myself I call them scallions, but to non-foodies, they seem to understand green onion more!
Lisa says
Haha, that seems to be true for me, too!
Marjory @ Dinner-Mom says
These look fabulous!
Lisa says
Thanks, Marjory!
Alice @ Hip Foodie Mom says
LOVE baked wontons!!! and this is exactly how I fold mine too!!! so easy! love this!
Lisa says
Thanks, Alice! I love folding the wontons into this X shape. It’s so simple but looks elegant too!
Marissa | Pinch and Swirl says
Friends-Giving sounds like a wonderful tradition to me! These wontons look so festive and delicious + plus love that you lightened them up by baking them!
Lisa says
I gotta lighten up the wontons so that I can save room for more food! 🙂
Julia says
I’ve always loved wontons and have never made them at home. Your tutorial is awesome! I’m going to be a wonton-wrapping fool here in a hot minute! Thanks for a great recipe!
Lisa says
Thanks, Julia! Once you get the hang of folding wontons, you’ll be surprised how simple they are. Let me know how it goes if you try it!
Arman @ thebigmansworld says
I think Mama Lin is 10 x more awesome than you for making seafood on Thanksgiving.
And I think she should disown you for BAKING won tons. For shame.
I hope she does so you get banished to Australia to make these for me. 🙂
Lisa says
You’re totally spot on that she would frown on me for baking wontons. I think her exact words will be “You silly American-born child.” And, oh man, if only I can go to Australia!!
felicia | Dish by Dish says
Lisa!! So glad I found your blog via Google+! These dumplings looks so delicious and plus, they’re actually healthy because you bake them instead of frying them! Great idea! Can’t wait to make wantons soon! Nice to meet you btw!
Felicia
Lisa says
Thanks, Felicia!! Nice to “meet” you, too! Let me know how these wontons turn out for you!
Maggie says
Those are golden! I love baked wonton and and the Thai style seasoning sounds so delicious! It’s so difficult to find fresh lemongrass here, so I’ll probably use powder one. Hope it will work!
Btw, really love your photography. The wontons look wonderful 🙂
Lisa says
Thanks, Maggie! I can imagine it being difficult finding fresh lemongrass in Beijing. I think powdered lemongrass should definitely work. Let me know how it goes!
Mary says
I made these tonite except that my wonton sheets were pretty big, so I put about 2 Tbsp of filling in each and turned these into egg rolls. De-veining the shrimp is so time-consuming that I really questioned whether these would be worth the effort. But then holy moly, they came out of the oven looking great and tasted awesome. My husband and son declared them “restaurant quality”. We thought we’d try baking and freezing them for an easy lunch. Frozen and warmed is never as good as fresh out of the oven but might do for a mid-week hit of these incredible delectables. Great stuff, Lisa! I’m so glad you gave up law!
Lisa says
Mary, I’m so glad that you enjoyed this! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a note on how it went for you! This comment made my day!
Brianna Kelly says
These sound delicious! I only have frozen precooked shrimp though. Would that be okay to use? I’m not sure if the shrimp would become overcooked!
Lisa Lin says
It should be okay. Maybe toss a few teaspoons of oil into the filling so that the shrimp doesn’t dry out too much.
Reiny Geller says
Quick question about the shrimp wonton recipe: What do you do with the egg?