wonton filling:
1/2 lb ground pork
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 tablespoons shaoxing
1 1/2 inch knob ginger, minced
1 small bunch green onions, minced
wonton wrappers
soup:
8 cups chicken, pork, mushroom or shrimp stock
1 2 inch knob ginger, sliced
4 dried shiitake mushrooms, sliced
3 tablespoons shaoxing
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, halved
to serve:
diced green onions
sliced char siu
1 bunch green onions
Directions:
Mix all of the wonton filling ingredients together. Place a teaspoon of filling in the center of each wrapper. Moisten the edges. Fold the ends together to form a triangle. Fold the two sides together. Repeat. Place finished dumplings on a plate and cover with a clean, dry towel. Meanwhile, bring all of the soup ingredients to a boil. Drain out the solids, return to stove. Add the dumplings, the now rehydrated mushrooms and char siu to the broth. Discard the rest of the solids. Cook until the dumplings float and are cooked through, about 5 minutes. Ladle into individual bowls, sprinkle with green onions.
Yield: 2-4 servings
My thoughts:
Matt’s been wanting to make homemade wonton soup for a while now, and since I like especially like making homemade versions of takeout favorites it sounded like a good project to me. I picked up a package of frozen wonton wrappers during my most recent trip to H Mart so (for once!) we didn’t have to make the wrappers from scratch. That really cut down on the work it took to make the wontons. Now the soup does require a bit of work: making the char siu, making the wontons but none of the work is particularly time consuming and quite a bit of it can be done the day before. I made some wonderful homemade stock the day before, so all I had to do was add some additional flavors to compliment the wontons when it was time to make the soup. It would be even easier if you used store bought broth. The char siu needs to be marinated overnight, so to make the soup Matt just had to cook and slice it. The dumplings came together in a matter of minutes using the premade wrappers. We only needed to make 25-30 dumplings to have enough for a really wonton filled soup. All in all, it didn’t take much more than half an hour to make delicious homemade wonton soup. We had a large bowl of it as a meal (with lots of pork and wontons) but it would also make a great appetizer soup.
This looks absolutely mouth watering. Thank you!
Yum. I’ve been wanting to make my own wontons for some time now. I think I finally have my inspiration. I love wonton soup.
This looks fabulous! I’ve been thinking of making some Wonton Soup lately. I think you’ve inspired me! 🙂
We’ve been making wonton soup for years at at home but I can’t seem to get the dumplings to stay closed. It never fails that a few open up while cooking and fall apart. I put a little filling in the middle, moisten all four edges with fingertips dipped in water and close them up pretty much the same way you do. Any ideas?
Veronica: I only moisten 1/2 of the wrapper-the bottom half. Maybe yours are too wet? Or it is the brand of wrappers you are using? Have you tried more than one brand?
That is a delicious looking bowl of soup!
Rachel:
Where have you found shaoxing in the Baltimore area? i keep looking, but haven’t yet found it. Of course, I wouldn’t know what the bottle looks like either. But knowing a location would be a big help. Otherwise, the closest thing I have is Mirin and Sake…
Maggi: Shaoxing is pretty easy to find, any Asian grocery would have it (H Mart has about a dozen brands of it, all clearly labeled near oils and vinegars) and I’ve even seen it in the “International” section of Safeway and Superfresh.
Wonton soup is a favorite at my house. This looks a lot prettier than the stuff at my local takeout place! It doesn’t look too difficult to make either. I love it!
Thank you for the delicious recipe!!
Question: is there any way that you could substitute dry sherry for the shoaxing?
Anon: That work fine.
oh you totally shamed… I … ahem… mean inspired me to finally get cracking on a char siu recipe I have from the Yank Sing cookbook (a famous dim sum joint here in San Francisco). If the only reason I make the char siu is to put in that soup… I will have done a very good thing indeed!
Oh my! I had some really good wonton soup earlier this week, and have been craving it since!
Instead of using water on the edge of the wonton wrappers so they won’t open, use eggwash.
Food Dude: Good tip! I used to do that but then sometimes the dumplings would have a slight “eggy” flavor to them. But if the only brand of wonton available kept falling apart on me, I’d totally go back to the egg wash.
mmmm that looks really good, it’s one of my favorite soups, I’ll have to try it myself! I have some stock in the refridgerator too!
This looks terrific and not so daunting to make. I live in a family full of Chinese fod addicts (one of our favorites is the Cook’s Illustrated recipe for Hot and Sour soup that is my daughter’s specialty)Can’t wait to give this a try!
This looks great! I was wondering if there was a veggie stuffing you would recomend. I don’t eat soy, but my sweetheart doesn’t eat meat, any thoughts? Maybe some thing with a mushroom base?
Thanks and I love you blog!
Veronica try moistening the edges with egg!