Slurpishly good Wonton Soup with a Korean meat filling, Bok Choy & Bean Sprouts garnished with Green Onions & Korean Chili Flakes (Gochugaru) if desired. Top it off with Crispy Fried Wontons for an unforgettable Wonton Soup recipe you will always want to come back to every once in a while.
Servings: 4 portions
Equipment
- 1 Wok or pasta pot for simmering the Vegetables & Wontons
- 1 Medium Sauce Pot for the Wonton Soup Base
- 1 Spider for scooping out the vegetables and wontons
- 3 Mixing Bowl for Wonton Filling, Bok Choy, and Bean Sprouts
- 1 Small Bowl for the water, used to seal the wontons
- 1 Sieve for straining or scooping up the solids from the wonton soup
- 1 Hotel Ladle
Ingredients
- 1 pack Wonton Wrappers
- 3 Small Baby Bok Choy
- Handful Bean Sprouts
- 16 C Water
- 2 Tbl Sea Salt
Wonton Soup
- 3 Cans Chinese Chicken Broth (412ml) - or 5 Cups of Water with 2 Chicken Bouillon Cubes or 1 Chicken and 1 Pork
- 3 cloves Garlic - Crushed or thinly sliced
- 1 inch Ginger - Thinly sliced
- 2 stalks Green Onions - Sliced or chopped, white parts only, save the green for garnishing
- 1/2 Tbl Sake
- 1 tsp Sugar, MSG & Gelatin - each
- 1 Pinch White Pepper - can use Black Pepper
Wonton Filling
- 1 lb Ground Beef & Pork - or either ground beef or ground pork
- 1 Tbl Soy Sauce, Rice Vinegar, Mirin, & Gochujang - each
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt & Garlic Powder - each
- 1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
- 1-2 Stalks Green Onions
Instructions
- Cook Broth: Combine Wonton Soup ingredients in a wok or pot, bring to just a simmer over max heat, skim scum, reduce heat to low, cover, and keep warm.
- Prepare Filling & Vegetables: Combine the ingredients for the Wonton Filling and mix well. Place Bean Sprouts into a bowl and rinse well. Chop the bottom stem of the bok choy and separate the leaves. Place into a bowl and rinse.
- Form Wontons: Place 1 tsp of filling on each Wrapper, wet edges with your finger or brush dipped in water, fold into Wontons, and transfer to a baking sheet. Repeat until all filling or wrappers are used.Half of the wontons can be used for the Wonton Soup, or about 8–9 wontons per bowl over 4 bowls (32–36 wontons in total). The other half (32–36 wontons) can be used for fried wontons or frozen to make wonton soup again at a later time.
- Simmer Wontons & Vegetables: Bring another pot of 16 C of Water & 2 Tbl of Sea Salt to a boil over max heat. Add Bok Choy to the pot and cook for 1–2 minutes, or until tender. Scoop out and divide amongst the bowls. Do the same for Bean Sprouts.Add 32–36 Wontons to simmering salted water for 4–5 minutes, stir every so often so they don't get stuck. Reduce the heat if needed to stay at a gentle simmer. Scoop out and place 8–9 wontons in each bowl.
- Assemble Soup: Scoop out the solids from Wonton Broth and ladle into the bowls over the Vegetables & Wontons. Garnish with Green Onions/Chives and Gochugaru Chili Flakes.Optionally, 1-2 Tbl of Chinese Dipping Sauce or just soy sauce can be added to the bowls for extra flavor. Regular soy sauce for a light wonton soup or dark soy sauce for a dark wonton soup. This can include sesame oil, hot sauces, chili flakes, green onions and other ingredients that don't really need to be cooked.
Notes
Fried Wontons: Reserve some Wontons to deep-fry and serve with Plum Sauce or Sweet & Sour Sauce as an excellent side for wonton soup. Fried Wontons can also be placed on top so that part of the wonton soaks up that broth.
In order to do so, place a large pot on the back of the stove fitted with a fine sieve. Fill the wok up halfway with oil and heat to 350 F. Deep Fry the wontons until golden crisp and scoop out, about 3–4 minutes. Empty the Hot Oil through the sieve into the pot and return the wok to the burner filled with 16 Cups of water and 2 Tbl of Sea Salt. Simmer the Vegetables & Wontons.
Boiling together: Everything can be simmered together, skipping the boiling in salted water altogether. Bring wonton broth to a simmer and hold for 10 minutes. Scoop out the solids and add the wontons to simmer for 4–5 minutes, add Bok Choy and Bean Sprouts the last minute. Divide the Wonton soup amongst the bowls.
- Soup: The Wonton Soup base can be exchanged with 5 Cups of Chicken Broth, two (2) Chicken Bouillon with 5 Cups of Water, or 5 Cups of Water with a Bouillon cube each of Chicken & Pork.
- Filling: The Wonton filling can be the Korean filling provided in the main recipe or the Gyoza dumpling filling with the Napa cabbage reduced by half or omitted and included in the soup itself. Other dumpling fillings that are more protein forward, or just the classic wonton filling of Ground Pork & Shrimp with other ingredients added.
- Wrappers: The Wonton wrappers can be store bought dumpling wrappers or Egg Roll wrappers sliced into four (4) equal parts. Which has the advantage of being a bit thicker, so the wontons hold their shape really well. Plus, they deep-fry up very nicely. Either one, Dumpling wrappers or Egg Roll Wrappers can be used.
- Custom Bowls: Each bowl can be customized with additional ingredients added to the bowls themselves. Add Chinese Dipping Sauce or Soy Sauce for Salty, Rice Vinegar for Sourness, Sugar, Hoisin, Oyster sauce or Mirin for Sweetness, Sesame Oil or more MSG for savoriness, Chili Flakes, Chili Oils, or Hot sauces for Spiciness.