How to Make Perfect Wonton Soup

wonton soup HK STYLE

Making Hong Kong style wonton soup.

Here is a recipe for wonton soup base that comes pretty close to the real deal in a fraction of the time. And by “real deal” I mean, Hong Kong style wonton soup.  You see, most of the wonton soup that you get at your local Chinese restaurants is chicken, or chicken and pork based. But if you’ve ever had real Hong Kong style wonton soup, you will notice that there are more layers to the flavors in this soup. Namely, using dried flounder and/or dried shrimp, and sometimes even dried scallops.

There are five main components in your wonton soup: a chicken and pork base, a silky unctuousness (gelatin or collagen) from pork bones, white pepper, the aroma and flavor of dried fish (or substitutions of this), and the aroma of toasted sesame oil.

Because I live in Florida, where it can sometimes be hard to find certain ingredients, I had to use dried shrimp. Which, actually turned out to be a great substitution for the dried flounder. It hit that rich, umami seafood flavor that I was looking for.

Just as a side note, I could only find whole dried shrimp. I’m not even sure if powdered dried shrimp is a “thing”. But that’s what I wanted. So I made it by putting some dried shrimp through a spice grinder. Using it in a powder form makes the flavor come out right away, instead of having to simmer the whole shrimp for a long time.

The only other technical factor here is the silkiness. When you take connective tissue and cook the crap out of it for a long time, it breaks down in to jelly, silky collagen (gelatin). I didn’t have time for that. But I did have beef gelatin powder on hand. So, instant silk!

When I’m craving something, I want it NOW! So, I engineered this wonton soup base recipe for speed without sacrificing any flavor. It only took me 10 minutes to put it together. But it tastes like gold. You’ll see.

Yield: 4 cups

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups of filtered water
  • 1 Knorr pork stock cube
  • 2 tbsp of Maggi chicken stock powder
  • 3 tsp of dried shrimp
  • a pinch of white pepper
  • 1 tsp of toasted sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp of beef gelatin powder

Instructions:

  1. Make the water hot, but not boiling. Add the pork and chicken bouillon and dissolve. Then add the gelatin and dissolve.
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a slight simmer for 5 minutes and it’s ready to use for your wonton soup recipe

 

Now, you’re probably wondering how to make wonton dumplings. So, here it is!

Shrimp and Pork Wontons

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Shrimp and Pork Wonton Dumplings.

Yield: About 120 dumplings

Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs of ground pork
  • 1.5 lbs of peeled, clean shrimp, raw
  • 4 oz of water chestnuts, small dice
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup of Tamari or light soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
  • 1/4 cup of white sugar
  • 3 tbsp of minced ginger, fresh
  • 1/2 tbsp corn starch
  • pinch of white pepper
  • wonton wrappers (HK style are yellow in color to simulate egg)

Instructions:

  1. Put all of the ingredients, except for the wrappers into the bowl of a stand mixer, and mix on low speed for 5 minutes until the proteins have softened and binded to each other. The mixture should be pretty sticky and smooth.
  2. To make the dumplings, put a small amount of mixture into the center of each wrapper and wrap it. Wet the ends with a little drop of water and tighten shut.
  3. TO FREEZE: put on a baking sheet and put in freezer for 1 hours. Then, take them and put them in a freezer bag.
  4. TO COOK: Boil fresh wontons in water for about 3 minutes, and frozen ones for about 5 minutes. Once they float, you can give them an extra minute and that’s more or less when they’re done.

 

Now, of course, no Hong Kong style wonton soup is complete without thin egg noodles and bok-choi greens. You can buy these in most Asian grocery stores in the cold or frozen section. They are called Wonton Noodles. They must be thawed when you’re ready to cook them. Simply toss them in boiling water and move them around for about 30 seconds, then into a bowl with cold water, swish them in there for a few seconds, then drain them, splash a tiny bit of peanut oil on them and put them in your soup bowl. Do the same with a piece or two of bok-choi (boil them for 30 seconds), then add the hot wonton broth and shrimp and pork wontons to the bowl, sprinkle with a few chopped scallions and enjoy. You will never enjoy take-out wonton soup again. Sorry, but it’s true.