Today I’m excited to share with you a special video collaboration I recently did with Sydney from The Crepes of Wrath. Sydney and I met a few months ago at a BlogHer theater and networking event and since then, her blog has been one of my new favorites for regular reading, for both the photography and the writing. I’ve bookmarked so many of her recipes, including these beer braised ribs, miso kale salad, and chocolate chunk cookies. When she started posted short, fun cooking cooking videos, I became inspired to finally start making my own.
So when Sydney asked if I wanted to do a cooking video together, as a way for food bloggers in New York to support and promote each others’ work, I immediately said yes. Earlier this month, I spent a fun Sunday afternoon with her and her husband Kramer making (and eating!) Sichuan wontons, one of the dishes I regularly teach in my Dumplings and Wontons classes at West Elm Market and Brooklyn Brainery.
If you’ve never had Sichuan wontons before, and you’re a big fan of spicy food, this is one dish that will surely go on regular rotation after you try it once. This is one of my favorite Sichuan dishes of all time, with a deliciously savory, tangy, and spicy sauce that is positively addictive. Unlike with Cantonese wontons, which usually goes into a soup with or without noodles, you just boil the wontons and drizzle a chili oil mixture over them.
And the folding is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. The name for Sichuan wontons in Mandarin, chao shou, literally means “crossed hands”. The wontons themselves are folded in a way in which the tips cross each other like arms.
In Sichuan, I’ve seen the wontons folded two ways. In the first one, you start by folding the wrapper into a triangle and then crossing the tips (“arms”) over the belly of the wonton. The second method, the “boat” method is to fold the wrapper into a rectangle; then, crunching the belly a little, you overlap the bottom edges of the two sides, as shown in the photo above. The second method is trickier at first, but more impressive once you get the hang of it.
So give these a try! Just be aware: in the words of a student who recently attended one of my dumpling classes, the sauce “is so good I can drink just it straight.”
Check out the video below, then read on for more about Sichuan wontons!
