Edamame Mushroom Wontons with Dipping Sauce

After making my baked banana, chocolate and strawberry wontons, I still had a lot of leftover wonton wrappers that I didn't want to go to waste, so I decided to come up with a savory recipe to use them with. I had seen a couple of recipes for edamame filled wontons online, and when I consulted my Vegan Eats World cookbook for more ideas, I saw a recipe for edamame gyoza with dipping sauce that sounded perfect!

Gyoza are typically made with round dumpling wrappers (like these ones from The Fig Tree), so I used a slightly different method to adapt the recipe as wontons instead.  I also changed up the filling ingredients from the original recipe a bit and added some mushrooms for more bulk and flavour. I couldn't decide what kind of mushrooms to get when I was at the Asian mart, but I ended up going with fresh enoki mushrooms because of their delicate texture and slightly sweet flavour that I thought would pair well with the edamame (plus they looked so cute!).

The filling for the wontons is blended up in a food processor until you get a slightly chunky, thick mixture that will hold together well inside the wontons. It also has a vibrant green colour, as you can see here:

Making the filling is the easy part, and then comes the somewhat tedious process of forming the wontons and cooking them. I made the wontons following the same method as last time - place a dollop of filling in the center, then fold over one corner to make a triangle shape and seal tightly.

Instead of boiling or frying the filled wontons, I decided to steam them because it seemed like the safest option to avoid having them break apart while cooking. That method seemed to work really well - they held together (for the most part) and I liked how the texture of the wontons became soft but chewy like pasta.

I found that the wontons themselves had a lot of flavour from the mixture of bold ingredients inside - although the green chili was almost too overpowering for my tastes, so I would probably leave that out next time.

The best way to eat these though was dipping them into a sweet and sour sesame-soy-lime dipping sauce.  I thought the flavours of the dipping sauce really complemented the wontons and helped to balance out the spicier edamame filling.

These would be a great appetizer to serve as part of as Asian meal, or eat them as a light meal on their own. Feel free to make a double batch of the dipping sauce and use it with other small bites or appetizers too, like sushi, spring rolls, dumplings, or scallion pancakes. 

Hope you all enjoy the weekend!

Edamame Mushroom Wontons with Dipping Sauce
Adapted from Vegan Eats World

1 cup frozen shelled edamame

~200 g fresh enoki mushrooms

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

2 tsp minced fresh ginger

3 green onions, minced

1 small Thai green chili, minced (optional)

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tbsp mirin

1/2 tsp sesame oil

~30 wonton wrappers

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a dash of salt, then add the frozen edamame. Boil for about 5 minutes, then drain, reserving as much of the cooking water as you can. Rinse the edamame with cold water, then transfer to a food processor.

Wash the mushrooms well, and chop off the woody stems (I cut off almost half of the entire bunch). Chop the rest of the mushrooms and add to food processor (you should end up with about 1 ¼ cups chopped mushroom).

Add the remaining ingredients (except wonton wrappers) to the food processor and pulse or process briefly until all the ingredients are combined (it’s okay to leave it a bit chunky).  Transfer mixture to a bowl.

To make the wontons, lay out one wrapper and keep the rest of the wrappers covered with a damp cloth or paper towel.  Place 1 heaping teaspoon of the filling mixture in the center of the wrapper. Wet the edges of the wrapper with water using your fingers, then fold over one corner to make a triangle. Press the edges of the wrapper together firmly, pinching with your fingers to seal well. Set the filled wontons on a greased baking sheet and keep covered with a damp cloth or paper towels. Continue making the wontons until your filling is used up.

Put the reserved edamame cooking water in a large pot and add more water if necessary to get about 3 cups. Bring to a simmer and add a steamer basket. Steam the wontons by placing about 7 or 8 wontons (as many as can fit in the steamer without overlapping) in the basket and cover the pot with a lid (Note: I found it easier to spray my steamer basket first with cooking spray, otherwise the wontons got a bit stuck). Steam each batch for 3-4 minutes, until the wonton wrappers are cooked like al dente pasta. Carefully remove wontons and transfer to a plate.  Continue steaming in batches.

Serve immediately with dipping sauce.

Makes about 30 wontons.

Dipping Sauce

3 tbsp tamari (or low sodium soy sauce)

4 tsp fresh lime juice

2 tsp mirin

1 tsp agave nectar

1 tbsp finely minced green onion

1 tsp finely minced fresh ginger

1/2 tsp sesame seeds

Place all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to mix well.  Store in the refrigerator.