Chef shares family's Chinese wontons with a touch of Hawaii for Lunar New Year

As Lunar New Year celebrations continue there are plenty of symbolic and satiating dishes to go around.

Philadelphia-based chef Kiki Aranita, who has not been back home to Hong Kong where she grew up due to "extreme quarantine measures," told "GMA" that "making wontons is one way I stay connected to traditions."

“Lunar New Year was always the biggest holiday to me, surpassing even Christmas and I grew up in a Catholic household," she said. "It is the only time of year that Hong Kong truly shuts down and focuses on spending time with family, as opposed to shopping and going out and everything else the city is well-known for."

Lunar New Year was the only occasion growing up when her immediate family would all make food together.

"For us, that meant wontons and spring rolls. When my sister and I both left for college in New York, we would meet in my tiny apartment to fold wontons and be homesick together," she said. "What makes this recipe unique to my family is the addition of water chestnuts. They lend a wonderful texture to the dumplings and lighten up the pork in the recipe."

Check out her full recipe below and how she has added Hawaiian touches to the traditional dish.

Pork and water chestnut wonton

Aranita comes from "two very diverse families" with a Chinese mother and Hawaiian father, "where the Lunar New Year is heavily acknowledged though not as big a deal as in Hong Kong," she said. "So I love adding Hawaii touches to my new year celebrations. I eat my wontons with Hawaiian chili pepper water and sometimes I also fry them to make the Hawaiian-Chinese pu pu platter favorite of gau gee.”

Serves 4-6 people

Ingredients
1 pack yellow egg wonton wrappers
1 cup cornstarch
1 quart chicken stock, preferably homemade, unsalted

Filling
1 pound ground pork
1 cup chopped water chestnuts
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce (standard Kikkoman – NOT light soy sauce)
1/4 cup thin sliced scallions
2 tablespoons roasted sesame oil
2 teaspoons finely minced ginger
2-3 cloves minced garlic
Pinch of salt

Garnish and dressings
Soy sauce
Roasted sesame oil
Thin-sliced scallions

Instructions

Add all filling ingredients together in a large mixing bowl, then mix thoroughly with your hands, but be careful not to over-mix.

Cover filling bowl and marinate at least two hours or, even better, overnight.

Mix a tablespoon of cornstarch with about a cup and half of water, setting the slurry in a bowl at your work station, whether it be a clean table top or large cutting board.

Place about a teaspoon of filling in the center of each wonton wrapper and with a finger wet with cornstarch slurry, trace half the edges of the wrapper.

Fold the wrapper in half into a rectangle, pressing gently upon the filling to eliminate air pockets.

Twist the folded edges together so that reverse sides meet.

Dust the bottom of the wonton lightly in cornstarch so it doesn’t stick to the plate or other wontons as you create rows of them.

Cover full plate of wontons and place in freezer for 15 minutes to two months. They’ll always be ready for you to make at a moment’s notice.

If eating right away, put a quart of unsalted chicken broth on the stove top at high heat. When the broth is at a rolling boil, add the frozen wontons and cook 4-5 minutes, until the meat center of the dumplings start to look like little brains. Take entire pot off heat, decorate with sliced scallions and serve!

Since eaters will be adding soy sauce, sesame oil and if they would like, chili oil, to their wontons, be careful not to over-season the filling or use salted chicken broth.