An improved version of a prior tomato wonton recipe post, this recipe is more delicate, precise, and gourmet than my prior version, but those benefits come with a cost. In the spirit of sharing my recipe iteration process, I’m sharing the thought-process behind the recipe (and then the recipe itself of course!).

The hunt for the perfect tomato wonton wrapper

As I shared in a prior post, tomato leather is harder than it sounds. Tomatoes don’t have enough pectin (a natural thickener) to create a traditional fruit leather, so emulsifiers or thickeners are necessary to dehydrate tomatoes into a solid sheet. And once you land on a recipe that does hold together like a leather, the dehydrated tomato flesh itself lends a sticky, chewy character to the end result.

The tomato wonton recipe I used in my 2022 ramen popups succeeded at addressing these problems, but it needed to be properly hydrated (e.g. via a mist of water prior to serving) to have a soft mouthfeel. Put simply, it was still obviously a fruit leather, not a wonton wrapper. So I went back to the drawing board.

To truly emulate a delicate wonton wrapper, I needed to fully eliminate the mouthfeel produced by dehydrated tomato flesh. With my V2 recipe, I decided to create the recipe with tomato water (clear water strained from tomatoes) and heat-activated emulsifiers (agar agar and locust bean gum, which have synergistic effects when used together). This changed the workflow to create the wonton but produced dramatically better results.

Both tomato wonton recipes have their place depending on your constraints:

V1 recipe:

• Pros: Doesn’t require heat source to cook, peak season tomatoes all year round (by using canned tomato puree), lasts for days at room temperature due to lack of moisture

• Cons: Too thick for delicate mouthfeel, requires proper hydration prior to service to avoid sticking to teeth, requires manually spreading onto dehydrating mat

V2 recipe:

• Pros: Transparent (if desired), pourable onto dehydrating mat without manual spreading step, perfect mouthfeel, lasts just as long in fridge

• Cons: Must boil tomatoes to activate emulsifiers, not as shelf-stable

What you need: Equipment

• Dehydrator. To reduce the tomato puree at a low temperature for a looong time.

• Nut milk bag. To strain the tomato water.

• Silicone mats with edges. To dehydrate a thick layer of a liquid.

• Spray bottle. To rehydrate the dehydrated puree so that it is easy to cut and fold.

• Blender. To blend the ingredients for each component. I have a Blendtec.

• Silicone spatula. To spread the tomato puree prior to blending.

• Pizza cutter. I’ve found this is the easiest way to cut the tomato leather in uniform lines.

• Food scale. This recipe needs to be measured to the gram.

What you need: Ingredients

One 28 oz. can of tomatoes makes about 24 post-it note sized wontons.

Wonton wrapper

• Whole tomatoes

• Agar agar

• Locust bean gum

• Salt

Filling

• Fermented, semi-dehydrated strawberries

• Used kombu (e.g. from making dashi)

Tomato wonton

• Tomato wonton wrapper

• Filling

STEPS

Tomato wonton wrapper

1. Add quartered tomatoes to your blender, then blend briefly until a puree is formed.

2. Strain the puree to extract the tomato water.

   • If you want a transparent tomato wonton: Strain over two layers of cheesecloth, ensuring that you place no pressure. If the first few drops are not clear, discard those drops of liquid before collecting the rest of the tomato water.

   • If you want a less transparent tomato wonton but higher yield or faster processing time: Strain through a nut milk bag, squeezing to speed the process.

3. Weigh the resulting tomato water then add it to a small pot. Add 0.9% of the tomato water’s weight in agar agar, 0.5% of the tomato water’s weight in salt, and 0.1% of the tomato water’s weight in locust bean gum. Combine.

4. Bring the above mix to a boil, and whisk while at a boil for about 30 seconds. This is necessary to activate the agar agar and locust bean gum.

5. Place your dehydrator mat with edges on a flat surface, and — through a strainer — pour the liquid onto the mat. If there are air bubbles, you can blowtorch them if you’re quick. The liquid totally gels in less than five minutes.

6. Dehydrate at 140ºF until the puree becomes a totally solid fruit leather.

7. Remove the fruit leather from the mat, spray from afar once with a spray bottle, flip it over, spray it again from afar, then wait about 30 seconds for the liquid to soak in. This slightly softens the leather enough for you to cut it with the pizza cutter. If it’s too dry, the leather will crack instead of cutting where you need it to.

8. On a cutting board, cut the leather into 3”x3” squares using the pizza cutter.

9. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Filling

1. Heat canola oil to 325ºF.

2. Add used kombu to the oil until bubbling subsides and it is crispy.

3. With a mortar and pestle, create a paste of the fried kombu and semi-dehydrated fermented strawberries, adjusting the ratio of each ingredient per your preference. Optionally season with a bit of lemon juice or white vinegar.

Tomato wonton

1. Take a wonton wrapper and spray it with the spray bottle. One spray from afar is usually enough to soften the wonton wrapper to the point where you can fold the wonton in half and it can stick to itself. Don’t fold it yet.

2. Put a dollop of the puree in the wonton.

3. Fold the wonton per your preference.

4. This finished wrapper will store in the fridge (covered) or for a couple hours at room temperature.

RIFFING ON THIS RECIPE

Think of this recipe as just a format. There’s so much more you can do with it.

• Different fillings: Pictured to the right is a tomato wonton filled with vinegar gel, citrus marigold, squid, shiso, and lemon verbena. I’ll post the recipe for it soon.

• Different liquid. You can replace the tomato with many other liquids. I’ve tried with cucumber juice (torched cucumbers blended and strained) and fig leaf juice (1 part fig leaf + 5 part water blended and strained). The cucumber one tasted just like nori.