Wonton Soup
By Caroline Cummins, from the Culinate Kitchen collection
| Serves | 4 |
| Prep Time | 45 minutes |
| Cook Time | 15 minutes |
| Total Time | 1 hour |
Introduction
The trickiest — and longest — aspect of this Chinese classic is assembling the wontons. Making the filling and simmering the wontons in broth, however, is a snap. This recipe is a variation on the wonton soup made by a friend, who likes to use ground turkey. Ground pork, chicken, or even tofu would work well, too.
Ingredients
Wontons
| 1 | lb. ground meat (pork, chicken, or turkey) or 1 block firm tofu | |
| 8 | oz. chopped frozen spinach, blanched or steamed, water pressed out | |
| 4 | garlic cloves, chopped | |
| 1 | knob fresh ginger (about 1 inch long), chopped | |
| 4 | scallions, chopped | |
| 1 | egg, beaten | |
| 1 | tsp. sesame oil | |
| 1 | tsp. soy sauce | |
| ½ | tsp. sugar | |
| ½ | tsp. black pepper | |
| 1 | package premade wonton wrappers (about 50 wrappers) |
Soup
| 8 | cups chicken or vegetable broth | |
| 3 | scallions, chopped | |
| 1 | Tbsp. sesame oil | |
| 1 | Tbsp. soy sauce |
Steps
- Place the wonton ingredients (except for the wrappers) in a food processor and blitz briefly, just until mixed. Scrape filling into a bowl.
- Put a little water into a small bowl. Place 1 tsp. filling in the center of a wonton wrapper. Dip your forefinger in the water and trace a line along two sides of the wrapper; fold into a triangle and seal. Place a bit more water on the two long corners of the triangle and press together into a tortellini-like twist. (It’s OK if these aren’t beautiful; they’ll cook just fine in the broth so long as the filling is sealed inside.) Place the finished wonton on a baking sheet. Repeat until all of the wrappers are gone; freeze the remaining filling for another wonton day.
- Bring the broth to a simmer in a large saucepan. Toss in the scallions, sesame oil, and soy sauce. Carefully put wontons into the broth (about 6 to 8 per person) and stir to prevent the wontons from sticking to the pan. Simmer until the wontons float. Serve hot, with more sesame oil and soy sauce at the table.
- Freeze any leftover wontons on the baking sheets; when frozen, scoop them up and place in ziplock bags for future soup days.
Notes
It’s not traditional, but adding some miso paste to the broth makes for a richer-tasting soup.
Variation: Instead of simmering the wontons in broth, fry them until brown and bubbly in about an inch of hot peanut oil and serve as an appetizer, with a dipping sauce made from soy sauce, vinegar (black rice or rice wine is good), and a little chile oil.
This content is from the Culinate Kitchen collection.