Chinese Wonton Soup

By Golfwidow7

Ingredients

• The Wonton:
• 1 1 50 Packet of Wonton Pastry makes 50
• 1/2 1/2 250 lb or 250 g Ground pork or chicken or turkey or soya
• 6 6 6 raw Prawns / Shrimps cleaned
• 3 3 3 in Chinese Mushrooms soaked hot water or fresh regular mushrooms
• 2 2 2 Tablespoons finely chopped Bamboo Shoots or Water Chestnuts
• 1/2 t ***** If you can' get these use 1/2 medium carrot peeled and finely chopped into matchstick width cubes.
• 1 1 1 Finely chopped Scallion / Spring Onion
• 1 1 1 Egg
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 inch piece Fresh Ginger peeled & finely chopped
• 1 1 1 Clove Garlic
• The Marinade:
• 1 1 1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1 1 1 Tablespoon Chinese Rice Wine
• 1 1 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 2 2 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
• 1 1 1 Teaspoon Sugar
• 1 1 1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 Teaspoon Fine White Pepper
• The Soup:
• 1 1 1 Iceberg Lettuce
• 2 2 2 Pints Chicken or Vegetable Broth
• 1 1 1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 25mins
Cooking time 35mins

Preparation

Step 1

Prepare the filling. First off is to soak the Chinese Mushrooms in hot water. This will take around 1 hour for the mushrooms to soften. (I usually do this over night). Save the water from the mushrooms. We will use it later.
Prepare all the ingredients, so start with the ground meat. If it is coarse cut, chop it a little more so it is fine, then transfer to a bowl.
Finely chop all the other ingredients for the wonton filling and add to the bowl. For the shrimp, be sure to remove the shell, de vein and then chop into pieces about the size of a garden pea.
You can see from the photo below, all the filling ingredients are prepared and in the bowl. Now you add the marinade ingredients to the bowl.
Take a spoon and combine very well. Then add 2 Tablespoons of the mushroom water, or cold water if you didn't use Chinese mushrooms. Combine everything. I always stir everything together for around 2 - 3 minutes constantly. Then cover and chill for 20 minutes.
Form the Wonton Parcels. Take a small bowl and fill with cold water. This will be used to seal the wonton parcels.
Take one wonton wrapper (be sure it is one only as they sometimes stick together!) and place it on the palm of your hand so when you look at it, there is a pointy side at 12 o'clock and a point at 6 o'clock, like a diamond.
Use your finger, dip in the bowl of cold water, then run it along all the sides of the wrapper.
Just before you use the filling, give it a good stir since it's been marinading. then use a teaspoon and place some filling in the centre of the pastry like the photo.
Take the bottom point of the pastry (the 6 o'clock pointy end) and take it up to the top pointy (where my thumb is in the photo). Then seal all along the edges, making sure you get any air out. As you seal the edges, crimp a little along the way so the wonton looks like the photo below.
You can make different shapes, but for me, this is the easiest and one that seems to not open up in the broth!
*** Be sure the edges are all sealed otherwise the fillings will come out when you cook them.
When you have made the wonton, place on a floured surface, or chopping board like I do, and continue making them until you're done!
******* It is at this point, you can freeze the wonton. I place then on a floured sheet of parchment, then fold over the paper and place in a zip bag. They freeze very well. You can then cook from frozen or defrost and cook as the instructions below.
Cooking the Wonton. In a large pan, fill with boiling water then using a slotted spoon, place the wonton gently in the water. Try not to move them around in the water in case you break them. When they float to the top, they are cooked. Transfer them to the serving bowls. Discard the water as it will be very cloudy and starchy.
Now to make the broth, simply add your chosen broth to a pan, and bring to the boil.
Whilst waiting for the broth to boil, separate the Iceberg lettuce leaves. I do this my cutting the core off and running under a cold tap. The leaves come away very easy then.
Add the sesame oil and a dash of soy sauce if you wish to the broth, then add the lettuce leaves. Stir everything, and you will find the leaves soften and the broth is ready.
Take the lettuce out and arrange in the soup bowls, I did mine around the edge of the bowl with the wonton sitting in the middle! Use a ladle and add the broth to the wonton, sprinkle with some scallions, cilantro, if you wish and serve!
You can also add some dashes of oyster sauce or soy sauce on the top, whatever you like!