Delicious Homemade Wonton Soup
This is one of my all time favorite comfort foods! On a cold and rainy day...nothing beats a warm, savory bowl of homemade wonton soup. I've had wonton soup in restaurants, but it never is as good as my mom's homemade version. My mom is an amazing cook! Her father was Chinese and her mom is Vietnamese, so she learned to cook both types of food growing up. My mom, like most Asian moms, never uses recipes when they cook. She would tell me that you add some of this and add some of that and just taste it. No measurements, temperature settings, or amounts of time are involved. When I would ask her to write things down she would always say that you just taste it and look at it and you know it is right. Well, after watching, tasting, and experimenting I was finally able to get it just right. My very type A personality needed to know exact measurements...lol.
The recipe itself is pretty easy to make and you can change the type of meat you would like to use. Some prefer ground chicken to the pork while others like to make a vegetarian version using vegetable broth and a vegetable paste for the filling. Some even like to add bok choy to the broth which makes for a very tasty broth as well.
Needless to say, nothing beats home cooked food. Not only is it less expensive, but it is also so much better for you as you can control the fat and salt. One thing that makes this better is that there is no MSG. This is something that is added to almost all Chinese food dishes in the restaurants. MSG (a.k.a. Monosodium glutamate) is a flavor enhancer commonly added to Chinese food, canned vegetables, soups and processed meats. Though the FDA has classified MSG as a food ingredient that's "generally recognized as safe", I would prefer to not have it in my food.
Anyhow, enough about that...let's get cooking!
For this recipe, you will need the following ingredients:
For the wontons:
2/3 lb. ground pork
1/4 cup finely chopped raw shrimp
2 tsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. green onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. grated ginger (you can add more if you really like ginger)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp sugar
1 package square wonton wrappers
1/4 c. water
2 tsp. green onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. grated ginger (you can add more if you really like ginger)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp sugar
1 package square wonton wrappers
1/4 c. water
Garnish:
8 boiled peeled, deveined, boiled shrimp (cooled and set aside)
1/3 cups finely sliced green onion
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
For the broth:
8 c. chicken broth
4" piece of peeled ginger
4 tsp. soy sauce (adjust to taste)
4 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
For the broth:
8 c. chicken broth
4" piece of peeled ginger
4 tsp. soy sauce (adjust to taste)
4 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
4 tbsp. sliced green onions and cilantro
1 large carrot chopped into 1" pieces
1/3 onion finely diced
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
finely ground white or black pepper
Directions:
3. Repeat until all wonton wrappers are filled, wrap plate with plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator.
4. Bring all soup ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer on low for 45 minutes, then remove ginger and garlic cloves and bring it back to a boil. Remove from heat. In a medium saucepan, pour 3 cups of broth and bring to a boil.
5. Take wontons out of refrigerator and place 6-8 (one serving) at a time in medium pot*. Cook for approximately 10 minutes more.
salt to taste
finely ground white or black pepper
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix pork, soy sauce, chives, vinegar, cornstarch, ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, sesame oil, and sugar until fully incorporated.
2. Using your finger, wet the edges of wonton wrapper with water. Place half a tablespoon of pork filling in the center of the wonton wrapper. Fold wonton in half diagonally to create a triangle, and seal the edges.
3. Repeat until all wonton wrappers are filled, wrap plate with plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator.
4. Bring all soup ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer on low for 45 minutes, then remove ginger and garlic cloves and bring it back to a boil. Remove from heat. In a medium saucepan, pour 3 cups of broth and bring to a boil.
5. Take wontons out of refrigerator and place 6-8 (one serving) at a time in medium pot*. Cook for approximately 10 minutes more.
The cooked wontons will float to the top. Spoon broth from the large pot into serving bowl and add cooked wontons. Garnish with one boiled shrimp, finely sliced green onions, cilantro, a single boiled shrimp, and finely ground white or black pepper. Enjoy!
*Note: You can cook all the wontons as once in the large pot if you wish, but you will need to finish all of the soup as the wontons will get soggy in the broth. We like to eat our soup over several days, so we do not use the entire batch of broth at one time.
