Wontons are traditionally made with ground pork which is sometimes mixed with shrimp. However, almost any meat can be used to fill these tasty little dumplings. Here is a delicious ground beef wonton recipe that incorporates the traditional flavors of ginger, onion, garlic and soy sauce. The ground chuck adds both flavor and texture to these amazing dumplings. Try this beef wonton recipe and let me know what you think in the Chinese food forum found here. Enjoy!

To see a video of these instructions click here.

1 lb ground chuck
1 green onion
½ tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garlic salt
½ tbsp stir fry oil
½ tbsp soy sauce
1 medium egg
50 wonton wrappers

1. Place the ground chuck in a large bowl and set it aside.


2. Rinse the green onion under cold running water and dry it with paper towels. Cut off the base and about an inch from the top of the greens and discard. Cut the remaining stalk into thin slices and set them aside.


3. To the ground beef add the ground ginger, garlic salt, stir fry oil, soy sauce, sliced green onion and the egg. Use your hand mix everything together thoroughly.


4. Next set up a work area. Have a board or plate to wrap the wontons on. Then next to this board or plate place the wonton wrappers, the ground beef filling, a bowl of warm water, and an additional plate on which to place the finished wontons.


5. Start filling the wontons. Begin by placing a wonton wrapper on the main board or plate. Spoon about ¾ teaspoon of the ground beef mixture onto the center of the wrapper. Be sure not to use too much filling or it will be difficult to seal.


6. Next, moisten the edges of the wrapper by dipping a finger in the water and lightly spreading it along the border.


7. Then carefully fold the wrapper diagonally in half and press securely along the edges to seal the meat inside. This will form a triangle shape.


8. Next wet one of the bottom corners of this triangle. Then take the two bottom corners of the triangle and bring them together, overlapping the dry corner on top of the wet corner. Press them tightly to seal. If the meat begins to squeeze out the sides when you bring these two corners together, you have used too much filling. You only need to use a little meat to make a great wonton.


9. Continue wrapping the remaining wontons.


10. Once all of the wontons are wrapped, heat a large pot of water on high and bring it to boil. If you are making wonton soup, bring the soup to a boil and directly boil the wontons in the soup.


11. When the water or soup boils, slowly add the wontons. I like to do this by hand, dropping them in one at a time. As you drop the wontons in, they will sink to the bottom of the pot. As they begin to cook, they will start to rise to the top. Keep in mind that we don't want to overcrowd the pot. Cook about 20 wontons to every 5 cups of water or stock. Let them boil for about 8 to 10 minutes.


12. If making a soup, simply ladle the soup into separate bowls with about 4 wontons in each bowl. If cooking them in water, slowly remove the wontons with a slotted spoon, placing them on a serving plate, draining all the water off as you remove them. Makes about 50 wontons.