Wonton Soup
Chinese food is so diverse and no wonder it’s one of my favorite world cuisines! What I enjoy most, and I think is quite unique and not so prevalent in Western cuisines, is that Chinese food is prepared in bite-size pieces making it easy to consume. There are eight regional cuisines in China. All are distinctive from one another and are influenced by what’s available locally, the history of said province, and cooking techniques adapted in each region. Wonton is a Cantonese name and the recipes vary from each province in China. Wonton means irregular shaped pasta but a more poetic description would be – swallowing clouds – because the wrappers resemble clouds floating when they are cooked and served in soups.
Serves 4 to 6
adapted from Nasoya
1 package wonton wrappers
bunch green onions
1 lb. lean ground pork
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 egg
8 cups chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
16 shrimp (raw), peeled and deveined
1 medium head bok choy, cut into 2-inch pieces
Chop the green onions and set aside. Use one tablespoon of the chopped green onions and place in a bowl with the pork, sesame oil, soy sauce, egg, salt and pepper. Mix the filling well. Spoon one tablespoon of filling into the center of the wrap. Lightly moisten the edges of the wrap with water using a pastry brush. Bring corners together and press with your fingers to seal edges.
Bring chicken stock to a boil in a large pot over medium heat. Drop wontons into the stock and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until they float to the surface. Reduce heat to simmer and stir in shrimp and bok choy. Simmer 2 minutes until the shrimp turns pink. Garnish with green onions, a dash of soy sauce and a dash of sesame oil. Serve hot.
The Culinary Chase’s Note: This soup was so delicious and a big thanks to my daughter for taking the photos while I prepared this for her last supper in New York before heading back to uni! Create an assembly line of wrappers and you’ll have these little bundles ready to pop into the stock in no time. This isn’t a difficult recipe and hopefully the photos will give you inspiration to make this gorgeous soup. Slurp, slurp!