Wonton Noodle Soup
馄饨汤面
A good wonton noodle soup achieves a kind of equilibrium with its three main ingredients: chewy noodles, a flavorful broth and savory wontons. With this recipe I try to reproduce the wonton noodle soup that I've experienced in Hong Kong, though there are many different versions throughout China and Asia as well. This recipe is more of quick-and-dirty version, however, since I use store-bought wonton noodles and wrappers, and chicken broth flavored with fish sauce in place of homemade broth made from dried fish. You can usually find the wonton noodles and wrappers in the refrigerated section at Asian grocery stores.
Recipe Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb ground pork
- 1/2 lb raw shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped
- pinch of sea salt
- fresh black pepper
- 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (or dry sherry)
- dash of sesame oil
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp ginger, minced
- 2 egg whites
- 1 package wonton wrappers (square)
- 1 package wonton egg noodles
- 5 cups water (for boiling)
- 2 quarts chicken broth
- 4 tbsp fish sauce
- chopped scallions, for garnish (or garlic chives, if you have them)
Recipe Steps:
- In a large bowl, combine pork, shrimp, salt, black pepper, cooking wine, oyster sauce, sesame oil, ginger and one egg white. Blend well, and let stand for 15 minutes.
- Put the other egg white in a small dish for sealing the wontons. To assemble a wonton, place about one teaspoon of the filling at the center of each wonton skin. Moisten all 4 edges of wonton wrapper with egg white, then pull the top corner down to the bottom, folding the wrapper over the filling to make a triangle. Press edges firmly to make a seal. Bring left and right corners together above the filling. Overlap the tips of these corners, moisten with egg yolk and press together. Continue until all the filling is used.
- In a large pot, bring the 5 cups of water to a boil. Add the wonton noodles into the pot. Swirl the noodles for 1 minute. Noodles are cooked when they float to the top. Drain into a colander and rinse immediately with cold water.
- In a medium-sized pot, bring chicken broth and fish sauce to a boil. Gently drop the wontons into the broth. The wontons are cooked once they float to the top -- boil the dumplings for an additional 2-3 minutes after they float.
- In four individual soup bowls, separate the wonton noodles into four equal servings. Ladle the wontons and the chicken broth over the noodles. Garnish with chopped scallions, and serve. For the wontons, serve with a some kind of sauce alongside -- try this ginger dipping sauce.
Serving Size: 4
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
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