Thursday, February 19, 2009

Homemade wontons



Chicken Wonton Soup
Complete Chicken Cooking Copyright 2000

Filling:
12 oz. ground chicken
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp grated, fresh gingerroot
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tsp sherry
2 scallions, chopped
1 tsp sesame oil
1 egg white
½ tsp cornstarch
½ tsp sugar
About 35 wonton skins

SOUP:
6 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 scallion, shredded
1 small carrot, cut into very thin slices

1. Combine all the ingredients for the filling and mix well.
2. Place a small spoonful of the filling in the corner of each wonton skin.
3. Dampen the edges and gather up the wonton skin to form a pouch enclosing the filling. I made mine into bishop's hats.
4. Cook the filled wontons in boiling water for 1 minute or until they float to the top. I cooked them right in the broth.
5. Remove with a draining spoon. Don't remove if you're cooking them right in the broth. I did and then I moved to the next step and saw that they went right back in the pot! Bring the chicken stock to a boil.
6. Add the soy sauce, scallion, carrot and wontons to the soup. Simmer gently for 2 minutes then serve.
____________________________

We can't eat Chinese food out due to my son's peanut allergy so this is the only wonton soup I've eaten in quite some time. Actually, probably in many, many years since once I discovered hot and sour soup, that became my soup of choice when eating Chinese food.

This was a bit milder than I remember wonton soup tasting. I think full-salt soy sauce would have been better in the filling. I used low-sodium chicken broth and light soy in the broth, which made it a tad flat tasting at first but I found it got better as time went on (I ate it for lunch over the course of a few days). Unfortunately the wontons didn't hold up well over that time. They started to disentegrate around the edges but most kept their filling.

I liked this recipe but it also got me thinking about how I could use this basic recipe and change the flavors. I could make an Italian-flavored filling and end up with something similar to the cappelletti soup we treasured when I was growing up.

Here's another good ground chicken recipe to add to my collection.

Question of the Day: Wonton soup or hot and sour soup? Or neither?

8 comments:

Kristin said...

i've been thinking about doing this too- yours look great!

Anonymous said...

Of the two, wonton soup. My favorite though, when at a buffet, is egg drop soup with some wonton soup broth added.

Jan

#1SAHM said...

I would have to go with wonton soup. I agree with pp though, egg drop is my all time fav!

Unknown said...

Neither...egg drop!

Heather said...

I don't think I've had a Chinese soup I haven't liked, but I have to say there is something special about hot and sour soup to me!

I can't eat Chinese out either because the soy sauce they use everywhere has wheat in it... very disappointing. I miss it!!

Anonymous said...

How about both? Wonton soup is usually pretty good at most places (though it can be bland) but Hot and Sour soup at come places can be downright inedible!

DancesInGarden said...

Wonton soup all the way. I don't like soups thickened with corn starch.

Sara said...

hot and sour for sure! but it's harder to find good hot and sour than good wonton, i think.