Guest Post: Hawaiian BBQ Pork Wonton Tacos from The Chunky Chef

While Michael and I are enjoying some amazing food and cultural attractions in New York, I've got a great guest post to share with you today. My friend Amanda from The Chunky Chef is sharing a fabulous recipe that's perfect for warm-weather entertaining. Her fun Hawaiian BBQ Pork Wonton Tacos are exactly the type of Big Flavor food that we love at Casa Garcia. I can't wait to whip up a batch of these tropical-inspired tacos very soon!!!

If you know me, you know that “the other white meat” and I aren’t the best of friends…usually I don’t eat pork. I have no idea why, I’m just weird. But, hubby likes it and I’ve been trying to make an effort lately to break out of the standard beef and chicken routine. So I came upon this little gem on Pinterest (of course lol)… and I just had to try it!! These pork tacos are sweet and saucy with an attitude… absolutely delicious!  Wanna hear the BEST part? And no, it’s not that tantalizing sauce… it’s that the crockpot does most of the work for you! Three ingredients -- who doesn’t love that?!? 

There is a downside… if you’re home all day while that pork is cooking… well, you may want to eat everything in the house, because it’ll smell amazing and make you incredibly hungry! Your pork will cook in your slow cooker for 8 hours on low, or 4 hours on high. About 30 minutes before you want to eat, shred your pork. It will seriously just fall apart, no effort required. You can omit adding a little sauce to the pork at this point, and only drizzle it at the end… but I like the extra boost of flavor!

I added a little of my sauce to the shredded pork, so it had tons of flavor. While it’s resting, go ahead and preheat your oven and gather your ingredients for the tacos. Now the toppings are up to you, but I went with the broccoli slaw, diced red onion and fresh cilantro!

As you can tell, I had some issues with my wontons not coming together too well. To assemble the tacos, lay out your wonton wrappers on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and spoon a little of the pork filling in the center. I did about 1-2 tbs of filling. Now add your toppings on top of the filling. If you’ve worked with wonton wrappers before, you know that you need some water to help them stick together. They can also be a bit finicky. Have a small bowl or glass with some water nearby, wet your fingers, and pinch two opposite sides of the wrappers together (to make a “taco”). Your wet fingers should seal the wonton. As you can see from the picture above, mine didn’t exactly stick together. So I improvised and sort of folded them over in a makeshift wrap. It worked, just didn’t look as pretty.

Tip: If you don’t want to fuss with making the tacos, you can also spray a muffin pan with cooking spray and push the wonton wrappers down into the muffin cups to create a bowl shape. Fill with toppings just like you would for the taco shapes, and bake at 400 for about 15 minutes or so.

Okay, back to the tacos… spray the tacos with cooking spray and bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes, until they are golden brown. Be careful, though -- wontons can burn pretty quickly, so keep an eye on them! Simmer your sauce while the tacos are baking -- and when it’s time to serve, drizzle some of that amazing  sauce over the tops of the tacos or serve it alongside for dipping. Orrrrrrr be like me -- and do both!

Be prepared to Fall. In. Love. Seriously you guys… you will LOVE these! If you’d rather not mess with wontons at all, this pork and sauce would be fantastic on a bun as a pulled pork sandwich. Or just eat it by itself -- it’s that good. I hope you guys try these, I promise you, you won’t regret it!

Hawaiian BBQ Pork Wonton Tacos

adapted from Le Creme de la Crumb

Ingredients (makes 4-8 servings):

•  20-30 wonton wrappers
•  1 lb. pork roast
•  4 tsp. liquid smoke
•  2 tsp. sea salt
•  2 cups broccoli slaw
•  ½ red onion, thinly sliced
•  ¼ cup cilantro, roughly chopped

For the sauce:

•  ½ cup ketchup
•  ½ cup soy sauce
•  ⅔ cup pineapple juice
•  2 tsp. garlic minced
•  2 tbs. brown sugar
•  ¼ tsp. fresh ginger

Instructions:
1. Place pork roast in the slow cooker. Add liquid smoke, and rub pork with salt. Cook on Low 8 hours or on High 4 hours.
About 30 minutes before serving, combine sauce ingredients. Remove the pork from the slow cooker and shred with two forks.

2. Drizzle about 3 tbs. of the sauce over the pork and stir to combine. Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick foil. Lay wonton wrappers out on a flat surface. Put 3-4 tablespoons water in a small bowl. Spoon about 1 tablespoons of shredded pork into the center of each wonton.

3. Top with 1 tbs. broccoli slaw and some red onion. Wet
your finger tips with the water, then pinch two opposite corners of each wonton together so they stick together. If they aren't sticking too well, then  old them over. Place wonton tacos on prepared baking sheet in a single layer, not touching.

4. Spray tacos liberally with cooking spray. Bake 10-15 minutes until wontons get crisp and edges begin to brown. While the tacos are baking, place sauce in a medium sauce pan and whisk over medium-high to bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and allow to thicken until tacos are done baking.
Top tacos with cilantro and drizzle sauce on tacos. You can also serve the sauce on the side as a dipping sauce.

Notes:
** Wontons can also be place in a greased muffin pan, pushed down into the cups
to create a wonton "bowl". Bake as directed.
** This pork is also good on a bun as a pulled pork sandwich -- no wontons required!

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