All About Wontons

For the soup tour, I originally planned to take the group to Marco Polo, a restaurant that specializes in wonton and dumpling-based soups. Unfortunately, I later learned that Marco Polo closed down so we decided to check out Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles for some hearty (and cheap) bowls of vegetable and meat noodle-based soups. Since I learned a lot about wontons and wasn't able to talk about it on the tour I thought it would be a great Soup 101 piece for the site. After you learn more about some wonton basics, you can also find some wonton-related links on how to make your own as well as how to wrap wontons and three wonton soup recipe to try out at home. Enjoy! 

All About Wontons:

• Wontons originated in North China.
• Viewed in ancient China as a sealed stuffed bun without holes and was named "Huidun" (meaning chaos). It was later changed to wonton.
• Wonton wrappers are generally made with flour, water, salt, (and sometimes eggs). They are then stuffed, wrapped, steamed, boiled or fried. 
• Wontons are generally thinner than dumplings, which become transparent after they are cooked.
• The filling is typically made of: Minced pork, Coarsely diced or whole shrimp or oysters, Finely minced ginger and onion or carrots and Sesame oil and soy sauce. 
• A triangle is the most common shape of a wonton. This is made by folding the wrapper in half by pulling together two opposite corners. 

Making Your Own Wontons: 

Homemade Wonton Wrappers by Kitchen Simplicity

• Homemade Wonton Wrappers - An easy homemade wonton recipe by Kitchen Simplicity that includes a simple mixture of flour, eggs, salt and water. The recipe also includes helpful tips about freezing wontons, preserving them in cornstarch and how they can made super thin in a pasta maker.  

• How to Wrap Wontons - Now that you have an incredible wonton recipe, it's time to wrap this. I love this video on SlideShare by Chinese Kitchen that includes 11 steps (with pictures) of how to cook the filing (meat and vegetable), scoop it into the wonton, fill the wonton, and finally how to boil them. The best part is that you can watch it over and over until you get your wonton wrapping just right.

Wonton Soup Recipes:

The wontons are made and wrapped, now it's time to make the soup. Here are a few wonton-based recipes for you to try:

Shrimp Wonton Soup by A Growing Tradition

1. Shrimp Wonton Soup - Created by A Growing Tradition, this Shrimp Wonton Soup recipe covers how to make a simple broth and the wontons themselves that are filled with shrimp, scallions, and cilantro. The recipe also includes some delicious ideas for garnishes such as bean sprouts and Asian microgreens.

Pork and Shrimp Wonton Soup by Food Repulik

 2.  Pork and Shrimp Wonton Soup - The adorable food site Food Repulik created this amazing-looking pork and shrimp wonton soup. Using ground pork, raw shrimp, bamboo shoots, and some soy sauce and ginger, I not love the recipe but really enjoyed reading Camilla's personal story about making wontons with her mom when she was a child.

Vegetable Wonton Soup by Seriously Soupy

 3. Vegetable Wonton Soup - My first foray into Asian cooking was with this vegetable wonton soup. Using ingredients from a local market in Brooklyn, I  added a variety of vegetables (napa cabbage, bok choy, spinach, mushrooms, and carrots) to the wontons that was then cooked in a tasty sesame-soy-based broth. I also added some spicy chili oil and garlic to complete the delicious soup.


How do you make your wonton soup?


Seriously Soupy Serena

Soup Tour Recipes

Hand-Pulled Noodles - Image Credit: absolutechinatours.com

Today, myself and over 20 soup lovers are going to walk through the Lower East Side testing out hand-pulled noodle soups at Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles, Minestrone or Pasta Fagioli at Da Nico and some Matzo Ball Soup or Split Pea Soup at Katz's Deli. I'm very excited to host this walking tour with  Explorecation.com and in honor of the event here are three recipes of the soups that we are going to test out (hoping to have a hand-pulled noodle one up after this experience). If you can't make this one, there will also be a spring soup tour in April. Refer to Explorecation.com for more details. Happy weekend! 

Vegetable Wonton Soup Recipe
Ingredients:
4 cups of water
Bunch of Napa cabbage, chopped up
1 tablespoon of garlic, minced
1 bok choy, chopped up
Bunch of fresh spinach
1 can of mushrooms, chopped up
1 whole carrot, chopped up
1 stalk of chives, chopped up
1 stalk of scallions, chopped up
15 wonton wrappers (I used both Shanghai and Hong Kong-style wrappers)
2-3 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
2 teaspoons chili oil Salt to taste

Other Ingredients for Your Wonton's:
Shrimp
Pork
Tofu
Ginger
Oysters

Directions:  
Add water to a pot and start boiling. Chop up the garlic, scallions, cabbage and bok choy and add them to the pot, along with some flavorings (soy sauce, sesame oil and chili oil). Chop up the bok choy, cabbage, mushrooms and carrots very fine (this is for your wonton's). Open your wonton's and coat the rim with sesame oil and water add the filings in the center and flap the wonton forward, then scrunch up the sides and close -- be careful not to overfill. Place them in the boiling pot, along with the spinach and extra mushrooms and carrots. Wonton's should be finished cooking when they rise. Taste and enjoy! 

Vegetable Minestrone Soup
Ingredients:
3 cups of dry red beans, soaked for 4-5 hours
8 cups of water, approximately 2-3 cups for soaking
1 can of organic diced tomato sauce
1 yellow onion, diced
1/2 head of broccoli, cut up
1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped up
1 zucchini, cut up
2-3 carrots, chopped up
1/2 box of elbow macaroni
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
bunch of fresh basil (about a handful)
bunch of fresh rosemary (about a handful)  
pepper and salt, to taste

Directions:
Let the dry beans soak for about 4 hours. When ready to cook, add water to a pot and let cook. Cut up the onions and garlic and add them to the pot, along with the beans. Cut up the veggies - zucchini, broccili, cauliflower and carrots, along with the tomato sauce and add them to the pot. Let cook for an hour, checking on the soup and stirring periodically. Add the seasonings (basil, rosemary, celery salt, salt and pepper) and pasta and let cook for another 30 minutes. Taste and enjoy!

Matzoh Ball Soup  

Part One—Chicken Stock 
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken cut into 1/4's (I used a small organic chicken)
1 large pot almost completely filled (75%) with water
4 carrots
2 stalks of celery, cut up
2 small parsnips or 1 large parsnip, cut up
1 small yellow onion, diced into small cubes
1 small bunch of dill tied tied together with white thread
1 small bunch of parsley tied together with white thread
Approximately 2 tablespoons of salt, tasting throughout the simmering process, adding more if needed

Directions:

Fill up a pot with water and bring to a boil. Add the chicken and cover. While that is cooking cut up, tie the thread around the dill and parsley, and the clean the vegetables. When the water/chicken starts to boil, clean any bubbles or dirt that acclimates to the surface. Add all of the vegetables and the salt to the pot. Set to a very low flame and allow the water to simmer slowly for two hours. Periodically check the pot and taste the concoction, adding salt if needed. After three hours let the vegetables sit in the pot until they cool. Discard all vegetables except carrots. Depending on when you are making the matzo meal you may need to keep your broth in the fridge or remove the vegetables and place the pot  immediately back on the heat as the matzo balls are added.

Part Two—Matzoh Ball Mix

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/2 cup matzoh meal
• 1/2 teaspoons of salt
• 2 tablespoons of cold seltzer

Directions:

In a medium-sized bowl mix eggs and oil with a fork, but do not beat the mixture. Add the matzoh meal, salt, seltzer, and mix together.  Cover with aluminium foil and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Start your pot of broth again and bring it to a slight boil. After 20 minutes remove the matzoh from the fridge and wet hands. Make the balls and place them in the boiling pot.  Lower the flame, cover, and cook for 40 minutes. Remove the matzoh balls and broth with a spoon, place into a soup bowl, and enjoy!

Yellow Curry and Coconut Milk Shrimp Soup

Yellow Curry and Coconut Milk Shrimp Soup - Seriously Soupy

After reading Grub Street's the best 38 soups in NYC, I really wanted to create a replica of the Singapore Kari Laksa - a soup from Taste Good, a southeast Asian restaurant in Elmhurst, Queens.  Using Dari Litchman's Thai Coconut Curry Chicken Soup recipe as a base, I also added yellow curry, coconut milk, green onions, red chilies and shrimp that included a subtle kick and some sweetness. Although I don't actually know what the soup from Taste Good actually tastes like, I really enjoyed the attempt of replicating their winning recipe - even if all I had to work with was a picture. 

Yellow Curry and Coconut Milk Shrimp Soup

Ingredients:
can of lite coconut milk
1 cup of yellow curry
3 cups of water
1 cup of frozen shrimp
Bunch of fresh basil - about a handful
ginger, peeled and minced
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 stalks of green onions, chopped
1/4 teaspoon of curry powder
1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
1 package of noodles
1 cup of fresh spinach
1/4 cup of edamame
can of baby corn
drizzle of sesame oil


Directions: 
Drizzle some sesame oil into a medium-sized pot. Chop up the garlic and green onions and add them into the put. Turn the flame on low. Add the water, ginger, coconut milk, basil, and yellow curry and let cook for 10 minutes. Add the shrimp, red pepper flakes, curry powder and cover. Taste and add the noodles, corn and edamame and let cook for another 20 minutes. Add the spinach last. Pour into a bowl and enjoy. 


Seriously Soupy Serena

Vegetable Wonton Soup Recipe

Vegetable Wonton Soup Recipe - Seriously Soupy

Vegetable Wonton Soup Recipe - Seriously Soupy

Everything about trying this recipe was out of my comfort zone.  I have had this type of soup 100s of times but I never thought to make it myself, most likely, because I figured the wonton itself would be too challenging. But since this blog is about soups, I really want to try everything and decided to delve head first into attempting my first wonton soup.

I researched some wonton recipes -- and really loved Rasa Malaysia and The Voice of Joyce, but I decided to modify them a bit and make a vegetable wonton soup. I visited an Asian market in Sunset Park (Hong Kong Supermarket) and I stocked up on sesame oil, chili oil, wonton wrappers (Shanghai and Hong Kong style) and various vegetables (mushrooms, bok choy and bamboo shoots). The soup part was a cinch and it actually took a lot less time than I thought it would to prepare (a majority of which involved chopping the veggies). My wonton's, though, proved a little difficult when shaping them and finding the right balance of ingredients to use so that they didn't break apart in the water. Through some fumbling, I created a scrunched-looking wonton - maybe not the prettiest doughy-treat but one that proved pretty resilient since none of them broke apart! I look forward to trying this once again; as I continuously attempt to perfect my wonton-making skills.