Wonton Soup

Ingredients

·         50 – 60 wonton wrappers 

Wonton Filling

·         200 g / 7 oz lean pork mince (ground pork)

·         200 g / 7 oz peeled prawns / shrimp , roughly chopped

·         1 tbsp ginger , finely grated (1.5″ / 3cm piece)

·         2 shallots / green onions , finely chopped (5 tbsp)

·         1 tbsp light soy sauce (Note 2)

·         2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine) (Note 3)

·         1/2 tsp salt

·         2 tbsp sesame oil, toasted (Note 4)

Broth (for 2 servings)

·         3 cups / 750 ml chicken broth (Note 5)

·         2 garlic cloves , smashed (6)

·         ⅓” / 1 cm piece of ginger , sliced (optional, but highly recommended)

·         1½ tbsp light soy sauce (Note 2)

·         2 tsp sugar (any)

·         1½ tbsp chinese cooking wine (Note 3)

·         ¼ – ½ tsp sesame oil

To Serve

·         Shallots / scallions , finely chopped

·         Bok choy , quartered, or Chinese broccoli cut into 10cm /4″ lengths (optional)

·         40 – 50 g / 1.5 – 1.75 oz dried egg noodles per person , (optional) (8)

Instructions

Wontons:

1.             Place Filling ingredients in a bowl. Use a potato masher to mash until fairly smooth – about 20 mashes. Don’t turn the prawn into a complete paste, small chunks are good.

Wrapping:

1.             Lay Wontons on work surface. Use 2 teaspoons to put the Filling on the wontons. Work in batches of 5 if starting out, up to 15 or 20 if confident. Brush 2 edges with water. Fold to seal, pressing out air. Brush water on one corner and bring corners together, pressing to seal.

2.             Place wrapped wontons into a container with a lid as you work (so they don’t dry out).

Cooking/Freezing:

1.             To cook: bring a large pot of water to boil. Place wontons in water and cook for 4 minutes or until they float. Remove with slotted spoon straight into serving bowls. Ladle over broth.

2.             To freeze: Freeze uncooked in airtight containers. Cook from frozen for 6 to 8 minutes. IMPORTANT: Do not freeze if you made this with defrosted frozen prawns. (Note 11)

Broth:

1.             Place Broth ingredients in a saucepan over high heat. Add white ends of scallions/shallots if leftover from Wonton filling. 

2.             Place lid on, bring to simmer then reduce to medium high and simmer for 5 – 10 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse. Pick garlic and ginger out before using.

3.             If using vegetables, blanch in the soup broth and place in serving bowl.

Assemble Soup:

1.             Prepare noodles according to packet directions (if using noodles). Place in serving bowl with cooked wontons and blanched vegetables.

2.             Ladle over soup. Serve!

Notes

1. Wonton Wrappers – You can find Wonton Wrappers in the refrigerator section of Woolworths and Coles in Australia in the section where fresh noodles are sold (usually next to the pasta). You will need 2 packets (there are 40 in each pack). Or otherwise reduce the filling slightly and just make 1 packet.

2. Soy Sauce – You can sub with 1 tbsp + 1 tsp all purpose soy sauce. Read more about different types of soy sauce here.

3. Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine) – I highly recommend using Chinese cooking wine per recipe as it adds depth of flavour into the filling. Sub with sherry, cooking sake or Mirin. If you cannot consume alcohol, then just omit.

4. Sesame Oil – This sounds like a lot, but trust me, it tastes incredible! Use toasted (brown oil) for better flavour, not untested (yellow).

5. Chicken broth – If you are at the Asian store, grab a couple of cans of Asian chicken broth. It’s more yellow and tastes a little “cleaner” than Western store bought chicken broth. It is what I used in the photos.

6. Smash garlic cloves by pressing the side of the knife down on the side so they burst open but mostly stay whole. It allows the flavour to infuse into the soup while making it easy to pick out of the broth before serving so you have a clean broth without bits of garlic in it.

7. I use 6 to 8 wontons for soups without noodles, and 5 or 6 with noodles.

8. I use these Asian egg noodles from Woolworths in Australia. Any dried or fresh egg noodles will work fine.

9. When I’m feeling really lazy, I cook the wontons in the soup broth. Just be aware that it will suck up some of the broth so add 1/2 cup of water.

10. The filling for the wontons are from this Wonton Soup recipe by Omnivore’s Cookbook, a fantastic authentic Chinese food blog. It is better than my mother’s!!

11. IMPORTANT: Do not freeze if you make this with prawn meat that was frozen – you should not refreeze raw seafood. Use all pork. Or if you really have to have prawns in your wontons, cook them very lightly in a skillet until they are JUST cooked (still opaque, not solid white), then chop them finely with a knife (i.e. almost mince them). Mash up the pork per recipe, then at the end just stir the prawns in – scrape any juices on cutting board in as well.

12. Nutrition per serving, with bok choy, no noodles. If you add egg noodles, it increases to 347 calories per serving. Make it even healthier by adding more vegetables – just blanch them in the soup broth.