In Cantonese (China) they’re called cloud swallows because they float like tiny clouds in soup. Sichuan cuisine calls them folded arms. In Mandarin they’re huntun.
In English they’re wontons.
What’s a wonton? It’s simple. Take thin dough, add filling, and fold them in a variety of styles. Cook or steam in broth, deep fry in oil, or bake. There are fried wontons, crab Rangoon (fried wontons filled with cream cheese and crab), wonton skin pizza, and strawberry Nutella wontons. The variations are as diverse as a chef’s creativity.
If you ever wondered about those golden, crispy “noodles” served free at most Chinese restaurants – they’re usually deep-fried wonton skins.
Wontons have a long and colorful history. Their greatest feature is the flexibility to adapt to different cuisines – like Indonesian pangsit, Thailand kiao, and Philippines pinsec frito. Eat them in soup, fried, as a snack, or with a tangy sauce. You can even find them stuffed with ice cream!
Almost three thousand years ago, Yang Xiong, a famous Chinese Han Dynasty poet and philosopher, wrote about a type of cake called tun. At the time, wontons were known as soup cakes.
According to Tasteatlas.com “many sources suggest that the origins of wontons date back to the Han Dynasty.” They were used in ancestor worship as well as “offerings to the spirits of the deceased.”
One legend talks about the Huns, fourth to sixth century nomadic warriors. The Huns loved to bully the Northern Chinese. Their leaders were “Hun” and “Tun.” Hun-tun represented chaos. According to author Emma Federer, “the Northern Chinese people buried their anger in food, eating away at their enemies as a coping mechanism.”
Some things never change.
