Wonton Soup Recipe

September 15, 2008

Last week, when I was at Appetite for China, Diana's post about her trip to Hong Kong and her bowl of divine wontop soup had me gawked at my computer and then drooled all over my keyboard. A bowl of sinfully plump shimp wontons swimming in supreme stock, whispering "eat me eat me" in my ears.

I love wonton soup, but there is a problem. For years, I've been searching high and low for a good bowl of wonton soup, but haven't yet found a satisfactory one in southern CA.

I love regular wontons with ground pork and a wee bit of shrimp served at Cantonese noodle joints, but the pure prawny kinds are impossible to find. (The closest thing is the leeks and shrimp jiaozi/dumpling at Dumpling 10053 at El Monte.) To satiate my craving--not to mention virtual hunger--I knew I had to make my own...

So, here is my delicious Cantonese wonton soup. It will never compare to the real wonton soup found in Hong Kong, but at least I got my fix for now. If you live in CA and know where to find a good bowl of wonton soup, please drop me a comment!

Please also note that I used yellow chives in my wonton soup, which is typical Cantonese/Hong Kong style. My recipe also includes a Chinese prime stock (上汤) recipe, which is the core of all Chinese soup dishes.

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Related Posts:

Fried Wontons (with wonton wrapping video!)
Shrimp Wontons

If you like Chinese food, you might want to check out my Chinese recipes.

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Recipe: Wonton Soup
Serving: 15 wontons or 3 servings of wonton soup

Ingredients:

8 oz. peeled and deveined medium size shrimp
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
1/8 teaspoon fish sauce
1 small pinch of salt
3 dashes white pepper powder
1 oz yellow chives (chopped finely)
1/2 teaspoon corn starch
15 wonton wrappers
3 cups stock
Salt to taste
White pepper powder to taste
Sesame oil to taste

Stock Ingredients:

1 1/2 pound leg quarters (chicken thighs and legs)
1 1/2 pound lean pork
1 1/2 pound ham
10 cups water

Method:

Prepare the stock first by boiling all the ingredients in a deep stockpot. Bring it to boil and skim off the scum that surfaces until the stock is clear. Simmer on low heat for a couple of hours. Pour the stock through a sieve and set aside. Save the extra in a container and keep it in the fridge for future use.

Put the shrimp in a small bowl and rinse them under cold running water for about 5-10 minutes. (This step makes the shrimp crunchy.) Drain the water and pat the shrimp dry with paper towels and then cut each shrimp into 3-4 pieces.

Add half of the chopped yellow chives into the shrimp and marinate with the seasonings for 1 hour. Blend the shrimp well with the seasoning.

Place a wonton wrapper on your palm and put about 1 teaspoon (about 3-4 pieces) of the shrimp filling in the center of the wonton wrapper. Gather the corners of the wrapper with the other hand and give it a twist in the middle to "close" the wonton. Repeat until the filling is used up. To see the video of wrapping wonton, please click here.

Add 3 cups of stock into a medium saucepan and bring it to boil. Add the remaining chopped yellow chives into the stock, add salt, white pepper powder, and sesame oil to taste and set aside.

Heat up another big saucepan with water. As soon as it boils, drop the wontons into the water. Stirring gently so the wontons don't stick together. Continue to boil until the wontons are cooked and float to the surface.

Transfer the wontons out with a hand strainer and divide them into 3 equal servings. Pour a ladleful of stock over each serving and serve immediately.

Labels: Chinese Food, Chinese Recipes