Kalua Pork Wontons

When I was a kid, I went to Hawaii a few times–we went to Maui, then when my dad remarried after my mom died, we went to Kauai, then we went to Kauai again my junior year of high school. Then my husband and I went to Kauai on our honeymoon. Yes, I’m a brat.

So last summer’s trip to The Big Island was a totally different experience for me. The Big Island was…different. And wonderful and amazing and beautiful. But it was big and it was also more remote and less touristy than any of my other Hawaiian adventures.

For the first half of our trip, we stayed on the west side of the island, full of beaches and sunshine. It just has more people, both people who live there and tourists (of course, “people” is fairly relative and aside from downtown Kona, The Big Island never felt crowded or touristy to me, although in Kona, we happened to stop for lunch near a docked cruise ship, so I’m sure that contributed). After that, we headed over to the east side of the island, which was a totally different place. It’s full of jungles and waterfalls and volcanoes and rugged cliffs and far fewer tourists and way more locals. We stayed on the easternmost tip of the island in this amazing house (totally not sponsored, just thought I’d throw that in there for anyone who might be looking. Yes, that price is correct and it’s just as nice, if not nicer, in real life) that was about 25 minutes from the closest one-street town. It was totally not what you imagine when you think of a tropical Hawaiian vacation (luaus and hula dancers and lounging on the beach with an exotic drink), but that part of our trip was filled with all sorts of local adventures, including the places where we ate. Those also happened to be, like, the most delicious 5 days of my life.

One night, we went to this restaurant called Kaleo’s in Pahoa (the tiny, one-street town we were closest to). It’s so funny because that night, it was super crowded, and yet it felt like we were the only tourists in there. But everyone I’ve talked to who’s spent time on the east side of the island has talked about eating at Kaleo’s.

It’s been 8 1/2 months since we were there, and I remember that whatever I ordered was delicious, but I don’t remember what it was. But the thing that is burned into my brain is that kalua pork wontons. They were up there with the most amazing things I’d ever eaten. In my life. And, not being braggy or anything, but I’ve eaten a lot of delicious things in my life.

I’ve thought about re-creating them a lot since we’ve been home. But when you’re dealing with re-creating one of the most delicious things you’ve ever eaten ONCE in your life (and I got one, maybe two wontons), that’s a lot of pressure. That I put on myself. In case you guys haven’t noticed, I’m a tiny bit neurotic. Tiny bit.

Last week, I decided it was time. I whipped up a batch of Kalua Pork. And then things got crazy–school plays and dance costumes and doctor appointments and whatever.  And then I felt like too much time had gone by for me to comfortably use the leftover pork. So the other night, I ran to a local BBQ joint and got a pound of pulled pork (sans the BBQ sauce). And a drink because, well, I wanted one. So they handed it to me with one napkin and one fork and pity in their eyes, like I was going to go home and drink my Diet Coke and eat my pound of pork all by myself. 

All awkwardness aside, it ended up working really well, so if this is an easier alternative for you, I totally recommend it.

For the wontons, you’re going to need 1/2 pound of pulled pork, some wonton wrappers, and some garlic olive oil (I used the Our Best Bites garlic olive oil).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet (or a couple of baking sheets) with parchment paper, drizzle with a little garlic olive oil,

brush the olive oil onto the parchment paper. Set aside.

Chop the pork into very small pieces (this is easier if it’s cold, leftover pork).

Take a wonton wrapper and place 2 teaspoons of pork in one corner of the wrapper, leaving about 1/4″ margin.

Dip your finger in a small bowl of water and run it around the margin surrounding the pork.

Fold the other side over the pork and press gently to seal. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining pork.

With 1/2 pound of  pork, you’ll probably get somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 wontons, give or take.

When you’re finished filling the wontons, brush the prepared wontons with garlic olive oil.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.

While the wontons are baking, thinly slice 1 bunch of green onions.

Then whisk together the mayo, prepared wasabi, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic.

Place the mixture in a Ziploc bag. Place about 1/3 cup of Asian sweet chili sauce (like Mae Ploy) in another Ziploc bag.

When the wontons are done cooking, transfer to a serving platter.

Snip a small corner off of each bag and drizzle each mixture over the wontons.

You might not use all of either sauce–don’t go too crazy. You can squeeze whatever is left into dipping bowls and people can dip their wontons if they want to. After you drizzle the sauces, sprinkle with green onions and serve immediately. Makes about 40 wontons.