Shanghai-style wonton soup

This was my first ever dinner party dish. I was known for this soup. I loved how light and healthy it was. It was exactly what I enjoyed eating back then and still do. It has this wow factor of home-made dumplings; I could prep most of it  in advance; with a very quick, final cook to serve. When I found the recipe, I believe in the Women’s Weekly Chinese cookbook, I was just so surprised how easy it actually looked to make. You just need the time and zen to roll all the wontons and you do get quicker the more you practice. 

My favourite current recipe is based on that by Adam Liaw from his Destination Flavour China show on SBS.

Pictured: Shanghai-style wontons ready for the pot

For 40 – 50 wrappers

Filling

1 bunch baby bok choy, washed – substitute with a handful of cabbage

500g fatty pork mince

6 spring onions, finely minced, dark green ends sliced and reserved for serving

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

1 tsp grated ginger

1 egg

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp Shaoxing wine – substitute with dry sherry

1 tbsp potato starch/flour or cornflour

1 tsp salt

Soup

400 – 500 ml per person of chicken stock

a splash of light soy sauce

a splash of Shaoxing wine/dry sherry

To serve- a splash of sesame oil over each bowl and white pepper to taste

To note - If really hungry, feel free to add some cooked noodles and vegetables to make a meal of it, however that will be less traditional of course.

Make the filling – Blanch the bok choy or cabbage for a few minutes in boiling water turned down to a simmer. Drain well and squeeze out as much excess water as you can once cool enough to handle and finely chop.

Mix the bok choy/cabbage with all the other ingredients – apparently it is important to stir in only one direction which for some reason does work really well! Set in the fridge for half an hour – you can make this in advance the day before etc too.

To make the wontons – I like to have a chopping board ready, and a little bowl of water. I lay out 4 – 6 wrappers, place 1 tsp filling in bottom half of each wrapper, leaving an edge- like a mini rectangle in one half of the wrapper. Rub some water around the edges of the wrapper, only one at a time however as you go. Fold over into a rectangle sealing well. Place a little bit of water on the corners without a sealed edge, i.e., the folded edges, and overlap and pinch the corners together. This creates a little tortellini shape. If you don’t have time for this, simply place a tsp of filling in a corner, and fold the wrapper into a triangle.

Repeat for all – laying them out on a tray with baking paper. You can freeze some, laying them flat on a tray or in a wide tub with baking paper, covered. Just do not let them touch or they may stick together.

Pictured: Making wontons

When ready to serve – bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil for the wontons, and bring the stock and soup ingredients to the boil then very low simmer, ready to ladle over the wontons as soon as they are ready.

To cook the wontons - I like to lower the water temperature to simmering, and slip the dumplings in batches of 10 or so, stirring gently with a wide spoon to make sure they do not stick to the bottom, and turning the heat up if need be, to keep it simmering. Cook 4 minutes gently. They will rise to the top when they are ready. Remove with a slotted spoon straight into the serving soup bowls.

To serve - ladle the warm soup over and serve with spring onion greens, sesame oil, and white pepper.

Serves 4 – 6 

Pictured: my favourite wrapper brand from Woolworths Supermarket