Wonton Soup

While my mom visited, she asked me what I wanted for dinner. Yes, I've said this before and I'll say it again: I am totally spoiled! It's been getting colder and it was rainy. Soup is the perfect meal for such weather and I had a sudden craving for wonton soup. It was also a perfect choice because I wanted to clean my freezer and so I was able to use up some of the frozen shrimp I had.



Wonton Soup - Makes about 50 wontons

Wontons
I rarely make this dish on my own because I thought it was rather involved. However, it wasn't too time consuming. A package of wonton wrappers makes a lot of wontons, but you may as well make a large number of wontons, freeze them and then enjoy them whenever you want. While I used ground pork and shrimps, these could easily be substituted for ground chicken or turkey, or other seafood like scallops.

150g ground pork
12 shrimps
2 tbsp onion, minced finely
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground pepper
2 tsp sesame oil
a package of wonton wrappers

Add all of the ingredients, except the wrappers, into a food processor and blend until the meat mixture becomes a paste.
Add 1-2 teaspoons of the meat mixture onto the middle of the least floured side of a wrapper.
Fold the wrapper in half, two opposing corners together, to make a triangle (refer to pictures below).
Gather both sides and squish together to make a little dumpling.
Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan.
Add 5-6 wontons and cook until they float (about 2 minutes) on medium-high.
Once they are cooked, soak them in cold water so they don’t stick.


Wonton wrappers and ingredients for the filling.


Adding the meat mixture on a wrapper and folding it in two.


Gathering the wrapper to make a perfect little package!


Wontons can be frozen in a bag for later. Cooking them in water.

Wonton Broth
Broth for wonton soup is just a Vietnamese chicken broth (actually, my mom used turkey bones from our Thanksgiving turkey!), with the added flavour of dried shrimps. If you already have broth in the freezer like I usually do, just heat it up and add a handful or so of dried shrimp. Turn off the heat. Let the shrimp flavours seep in for 15 minutes and remove them (according to my mom, leaving them there too long can result in a fishy broth). You could also skip the dried shrimp like my sister does.

Putting Wonton Soup Together
Wonton soup can be enjoyed as a meal; adding noodles and some vegetables help bulk it up. It can also be served as a starter, just serve a few wontons in a bowl of broth.

chicken broth
vegetables of your choice (thin carrot sticks, bok choy and shiitake mushroom slices are great)
cooked wontons
egg noodles
sliced char siu pork, optional (Chinese BBQ pork can be purchased at Asian grocery stores)
green onion, sliced, as garnish
coriander, as garnish

Heat up the chicken broth.
Add vegetables of your choice into the broth until cooked.
Meanwhile, spread a handful of noodles onto a plate and microwave for a minute (this will prevent the noodles from getting soggy).
Place the noodles and cooked wontons in a bowl.
Spoon the hot broth into the bowls.
Add the vegetables and char siu.
Garnish with green onion and coriander.
Tada!


Shanghai bok choy.


Cooking noodles and heating up wontons.

For other soups that can be served as a meal:
Chicken Bean Thread Noodle Soup
Crab and Tomato Soup
Lemongrass Chicken Soup