Light or Dark Wonton Soup, depending on your Wonton filling with Bok Choy & Bean Sprouts. Serve with a side of Fried Wontons and S&S Sauce for a contrast in texture and a meal you will come back to every so often. It's just too good. It yields a few different varieties too. From Beef Wontons, Beef & Pork Wontons in a Dark Broth. To Chicken, Pork, or Pork & Shrimp Wontons for a light or traditional version. Garnish the bowls with Green Onions and some Chili flakes for a bump in heat.While there are all kinds of ways you can make wontons. In general, the Wontons are filled with a Dumpling filling and the soup base is broth with Garlic, Ginger & Green Onions. Typically, Soy Sauce is added and a bit of Vinegar can be added for acidity or the desired amount of Chinese Dipping sauce added to the Wonton Soup.In this recipe, we use the dumpling filling from Gyoza Dumplings for the Wontons. This filling is enough to make 66 Wontons and still have some filling left to make Gyoza Dumplings. So you may want to have half a portion of Dumplings wrappers prepared as well, or store bought for Dumplings. You can also just pick up 2 packages of wonton wrappers and make them all wontons, since wontons can be frozen.Although Wonton Soup, with Fried Wontons on the side and some Gyoza Dumplings with Chinese Dipping sauce is just an amazing meal. Plus, some of that Chinese dipping sauce can be spooned into a bowl to await the Wonton Soup, incredible!
Servings: 4 portions
Equipment
- 1 Wok Soup pot or deep pan
- 1 Spider
- 1 Mixing Bowl
- 1 Small Bowl for the water, used to seal the wontons
- 1 Sieve or Pot for salting the Napa cabbage
- 1 Hotel Ladle
Ingredients
- 1-2 pack Wonton Wrappers
- 3 Baby Bok Choy
- Handful Bean Sprouts
- 1 Carrot - Optional, thinly sliced on the angle
Wonton Soup Base
- 8 C Water
- 4 Cubes Chicken Bouillon
- 3 cloves Garlic - Crushed, thinly sliced or coarsely chopped
- 1 inch Ginger - Sliced
- 2 stalks Green Onions - Sliced or chopped
- 1 Tbl Sesame Oil, Soy Sauce & Sake
- 1 tsp MSG & Gelatin
- To Taste White Pepper - can use Black Pepper
Wonton Filling
- 1 lb Ground Pork - or 50/50 Beef & Pork
- 5 Stalks Green Onions - or Chives
- 3 Cloves Garlic
- 1 Inch Ginger
- 2 Tbl Soy Sauce & Sake - each
- 1 Tbl Kosher Salt - to salt the Napa Cabbage
- 2 tsp Sesame Oil
- 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/4 tsp White Pepper
- 4-5 C Napa Cabbage - Optional, can be omitted or included in the soup itself
- 1 Small Carrot - Optional can be omitted or included in the soup
Instructions
- Wonton Filling: Finely chop the Napa Cabbage, Wash it well and place into a large Strainer. Sprinkle 1 Tbl of Kosher Salt on top and mix it into the Cabbage well and squeezing. Leave over a sink until ready to use.Shred the Carrot and chop. Then mince the Garlic & Ginger. Chop the Green Onions and add everything to a bowl.Squeeze out the Juices from the Napa Cabbage and coarsely chop again, squeeze excess water out again and add to the bowl along with the remaining ingredients and mix well.
- Wonton Soup: Combine the Wonton Soup ingredients into a Wok, Soup Pot or deep pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, and leave to keep warm.
- Prepare the Wontons by placing 1 tsp — 1/2 Tbl of the filling into each wrapper. Wet the edges and fold into wontons. Transfer to a baking sheet and repeat until all the wonton wrappers or filling is used up.
- Lay out your serving bowls and add the Bok Choy & Bean Sprouts to the Wonton Broth to cook for a minute or so over medium heat. Scoop out and portion them out into the serving bowls. If adding carrots, add these first and simmer until soft, before adding in the Bok Choy and/or Bean Sprouts. Optionally, 1-2 Tbl of Chinese Dipping Sauce can be added to the bowls for extra flavor. This can include hot sauces, chili flakes, green onions and other ingredients that don't really need to be cooked.
- With the Wonton soup over medium heat and simmering, add the wontons and gently stir to simmer for 3–5 minutes. Stir every so often until they float so they don't get stuck. Scoop them out and portion into each bowl. Ladle as much broth as desired into each bowl. Garnish with Green Onions or Chives & Chili Flakes. Serve right away.
Notes
Leftover Wonton Meat: Any leftover meat can be used to make Gyoza Dumplings or extra wonton wrappers to use the entire filing up for wontons and freeze them for later.
Fried Wontons: Reserve some Wontons to deep-fry and serve with Plum Sauce or Sweet & Sour Sauce as an excellent side for wonton soup. They can also be placed on top so that part of the wonton soaks up that broth.
Boiling Separately: The Vegetables can be boiled separately until tender and then scooped out and placed into the bowls. Followed by the Wontons per serving. Just be sure to keep the broth at the same levels, adding more water if needed to keep the amount and flavor consistent.
Flavored Bowls: There are many additional items that you can place into each bowl to add certain flavors, including softened vegetables like Bok Choy, Napa, Bean Sprouts, Carrots, Mushrooms etc… Some other ideas are below.
- Green Onions
- Chinese Dipping Sauce
- Soy Sauce
- Chinese Vinegar
- Gochujang Paste or Gochugaru Chili Flakes
- Sesame Oil
- Chili Oil
- Sriracha
- MSG
- Sugar
- Miso Paste
- Fish Sauce