Good Eat • No Meat
The winner of the Another Fork in the Trail cookbook is number 15.
Congratulations to dana! Please email me your mailing address and let me know if you would like a signed postcard to use as a bookmark from the author, Laurie Ann March.
Thank you everyone for playing!
With the extra ingredients from making Crispy Baked Spicy Pumpkin Wontons, I made more wontons but this time for a warming, comforting bowl of soup. In Cantonese, wonton means “swallowing clouds”. Floating around in the soup broth, they kinda do look like clouds.
In stark contrast to the crispiness of the baked version, wonton wrappers in soup turns all silky and slippery. They’re like soft little pillows. These in particular are also extra spicy, as I bumped up the amount of Sriracha (you can see how red the filling is in the below photo).
Never thought I would be making pumpkin wontons two ways out of one can of pureed pumpkin, but there you go.
Spicy Pumpkin Wonton Soup
Serves 2 or 4 as part of a meal
Soup Base
4 cups water
4 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked in water until soft, discard the stems and slice the caps
2 slices fresh ginger
Salt
2 cups spinach
Start the soup base first so it can simmer while you make the wontons. In a pot, add the water, mushrooms, ginger and salt to taste and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to simmer and leave until you’re ready to add the wontons. Just before the wontons are done, add the spinach.
Pumpkin wontons
24 wonton wrappers
Filling
1/2 of a 15 oz can pumpkin puree
3/4″ piece of fresh ginger, minced
1 green onion stalk, finely chopped
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Sriracha hot chili sauce (or to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
In a separate large pot, fill with water about halfway and bring to a boil.
In a bowl, combine the pumpkin, ginger, green onion, soy sauce and Sriracha. Season to taste with salt and pepper and mix well.
Place 1 teaspoon of the filling off center towards a corner of a wonton wrapper. Wet the edges of two adjoining sides with your finger, and fold to form a triangle and seal the edges. Wet the tip of one of the side corners then bring the two corner tips together in an overlap and press to seal.
Gently lower the wontons into the separate pot of boiling water on medium heat. Stir gently to separate the wontons and to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Depending on the pot size, you may need to cook the wontons in batches, do not overcrowd the wontons.
When the wontons float to the surface, about 2-3 minutes, they’re done. Lift the wontons out with a slotted spoon and drop into the soup base.
To serve, ladle into bowls but let cool slightly before eating as the filling will be hot, temperature-wise (it’ll be spicy hot too).
Another Fork in the Trail Cookbook Giveaway
Don’t forget to enter the giveaway, it ends on Friday, October 21st.
Related Posts
Crispy Baked Spicy Pumpkin Wontons
Wonton Soup
It’s taken me awhile to get to the latest cookbook up for review, Another Fork in the Trail: Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes for the Backcountry by Laurie Ann March. Not because it’s a hard read or anything like that. It’s actually packed full of useful information, from outdoor cooking methods and equipment to nutrition and food storage at camp and recipes.
But quite a few of the recipes required a dehydrator and I didn’t have one at the time. This was the same problem I had with Ani’s Raw Food Asia – recipes I wanted to try but didn’t have the equipment (sure, I could have used the oven but I rather not).
While waiting for the dehydrator to arrive, I made the Roasted Nut and Mango Energy Bars, pictured above. I had no idea they were so easy to make and so much better than store bought energy bars.
Finally, a shiny new dehydrator sits on the kitchen counter. The first thing I made is the Carrot Muffin Leather. I just had to try it because it wasn’t a fruit leather. I’ve had all sorts of fruit leather in my time but never vegetable leather. Guess what? it does taste like carrot muffins.
I also made tofu jerky at the same time using different trays (dehydrators are so efficient). I’ve made tofu jerky in the oven way back when; it’s one of the reasons I rather wait to get a dehydrator than use the oven again.
The marinate produces a nicely flavored tofu jerky – I liked the combination of soy sauce, lime, onion, garlic and red chilies. Bonus points for not using liquid smoke.
I did tweak the recipe a bit based on my previous experience with making jerky, I cut the tofu thinner. And I reduced the amount of soy sauce and only marinated for a couple of hours instead of overnight. I wanted the flavor but not the saltiness, it came out great. I’m thinking the marinate would be good for regular baked tofu too.
I also tried an entree, Mushroom Burgundy. The recipe called for frozen pearl onions which I couldn’t find at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. I just left it out and added extra carrots.
Since I wasn’t actually going camping, I didn’t bother to dehydrate the dish. All of the recipes provide instructions for preparing the food for the outdoors, whether dehydrating or other storage, but you can just skip that part if you’re eating at home or around town.
A little woodland friend stopped by and whispered something about sharing. So I’m giving away a copy of Another Fork in the Trail.
To enter the giveaway:
Leave a comment in this post with your favorite on the go snack, it can be for the wilderness or the urban jungle. Comment must be made by midnight PST on Friday, October 21st; one entry per person. No purchase is necessary to enter or win.
One winner will be randomly selected (using random.org) from the comments received and announced in a new post on Saturday, October 22nd. Winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be randomly chosen. Prize awarded is the cookbook that I received from the publisher (approximate retail value $17.95). I did not drool on it.
Official Rules:
Open only to U.S. residents age 18 and over. Odds of winning depend on the number of entries received. Void where prohibited by law. Any tax is the sole responsibility of the winner. Winner releases Chow Vegan from any liability arising out of participation in this giveaway or the acceptance, use or misuse of the prize.
Disclosure: I received the cookbook free of charge from the publisher to review. The opinions and experience with the cookbook expressed herein are my own. There was no pay to say.
This post also contains Amazon links, I get a few coins tossed my way if you click on the link and make a purchase of anything.