Pad Krapow(ish) Wontons 🥟

The culinary remix you didn't know you needed

There was some serious fusion cuisine at work here, as we know that dumplings / wontonts are decidedly not Thai - but a leftover bundle of Thai basil* and an open package of dumpling wrappers got me scheming.

Literally translated as “holy basil stir fry”, pad krapow is (in my opinion) the unsung hero of (mainstream) Thai dishes. The star ingredient is Thai basil - not to be mistaken with the Genovese basil most of us are familiar with from pesto etc.

Thai basil has notes of anise, a slightly peppery aftertaste, and is more resilient: it won’t wilt after one day and it thrives in high cooking temperatures. Because pad krapow is typically made with minced meat, you get a perfect mix of heat and herbs and flavour with every bite - like so many Thai dishes, it’s simultaneously sweet, spicy, salty, and tart. And it happens to work really well inside wontons.

*I’ve only ever used Thai basil in pad krapow, please comment below if you have alternative suggestions!

The Recipe

A NOTE ON RATIOS: The ratios here are not scientific, meaning the dumpling filling might not use up all your dumpling wrappers and/or vice versa. However, the beauty of making dumplings is that you can use virtually anything as a dumpling filling should you run out of your original filling, and you can turn any leftover filling into a fun little stir-fry or meatball situation should you run out of wrappers. A beautiful circle of life! In this case, I used one chicken breast, a bunch of herbs, a bit of sauce, and made about 10 dumplings.

A NOTE ON WONTON/DUMPLING WRAPPERS: if you make them yourself, more power to you. I like to pick my battles in life and prefer them conveniently store-bought. I used the square kind because that’s what I had, but you can use whichever shape you like.

A NOTE ON RECIPE ACCURACY: I use the term pad krapow loosely here because I omitted the typically included oyster sauce and broth from the filling - I didn’t have the former and will be serving the dumplings in the latter anyway.

Ingredients

• Wonton wrappers

• 1 chicken breast

• 1 handful of Thai basil

• 1 handful of coriander

• 2 spring onions, chopped finely

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1-2 red chillis, chopped finely

• 1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 1 tsp fish sauce

• Broth (whichever kind you like / have)

Instructions

1. Mince the chicken breast very finely, either manually with a knife or in a food processor. Or just buy it minced!

   

2. Chop everything else up very finely, then mix all of the herbs, the chicken breast, and the condiments well in a bowl.

   

3. Begin heating your broth in a small pot

4. Get out your wonton wrappers and fill a small bowl with water (to seal them). Add a small spoonful of filling to the wrappers one at a time, then moisten the edge of the wrapper with a bit of water and carefully fold into triangles.

5. Bring water to boil in a large pot, then cook the wontons for about 7 minutes (I’m paranoid so I always cut one in half to make sure it’s done).

6. Serve in hot broth with a splash of chili oil and a few sesame seeds.

7. Enjoy!