Wonton Noodle Soup

Wonton noodle soup - my favourite and especially one of my partner's favourite meals.  We always tend to go out for wonton noodle soup during this cold weather because I cannot make it!  Well actually too LAZY to whip something like this up when you can buy a bowl for under $10.

On the weekend I challenged myself and cooked wonton noodle soup for the first time.   The filling is somewhat like the fried dumplings I usually make (mixture of chicken and pork) but this time I added juicy banana prawns (bought these at woolworths for about $12 for a kg - on sale).  It adds a nice texture to it when cut up real chunky!  I do not like ordering a wonton soup when I find only mince pork in it!   A soup wonton should use the egg wrap (yellow skin wrap) cause it doesn't break when cooked.   The broth I make is simple chicken stock and shitake mushrooms with some seasonings and lots of ginger.  It takes about an hour.... I know I am lazy I can't wait for hours to make a broth.  The greens I use is just bok choy and for the dipping sauce I usually make is the ginger chilli soy sauce to go with the meal. 

All these things that you need I reckon you could all get from an Asian supermarket!  It is a lot of processing but it is so satisfying that you put all the hard work into (and know what you put in it) what you made.  If you are cooking for people I think you should get them to help out making the wontons.  Makes life easier.

I usually make a lot of wontons so the ingredients below may not be accurate to serve an accurate amount of people.  If you have any mince mixture left over freeze it and make wontons later if you need them.  Or you can make more wontons and freeze it (make sure freeze the wontons seperately when layered because it will stick and clump together).

Soup Broth
- 1kg chicken bones
- 3/4 cup of shredded shiitake mushrooms  (rehydrate with water as packet instructions)
- 2 litres of water
- ginger chopped
- garlic whole 
- 1 star anise (optional)
- few cloves (optional)
- salt and pepper
- dash of soy sauce
- dash of sesame oil

Wontons

Filling
- 150grams of pork mince
- 150grams of chicken mince
- 200grams of any kind of prawns peeled and diced into small pieces
- 1tbs of light soy sauce
- 2tbs of oyster sauce
- dash of seasme oil
- 1tbs of rice wine vinegar
- 1 ginger peeled and minced
- 2 cloves of garlic peeled and minced
- strands of green onion chopped
- 1 cup of chinese cabbage chopped (optional)
- 1 cup of water chestnut chopped (optional)
- 1 packet of square or round shaped egg wonton wrappers (we use half)
- water
- 1 packet of egg noodles (would serve 4 people)
- 1 bunch of bok choy roughly cut into 20cm pieces.

Method:

Soup broth: Put all ingredients together in a large pot and simmer for 1 hour.  Season to taste.

Wontons:  For the wontons add everything in a big mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.   Add the meats and prawns in first, then the condiments and seasoning.  The mixture should be sticky.

How to wrap your wontons.  Look at this video - it shows the most easiest way to fold.  Keep wrapping until you have enough to serve how many people you want. I like to fold mine in the tortellini way using just under a teaspoon of filling.  My partner attempted to wrap one (guess which one it is lol).

Wonton soup: What I like to do is transfer enough soup into a smaller pot from the original pot and cook the wontons.   This is because then you won't have broken wraps that might fall of the wonton in the soup and this way you have more fresh soup when needed. You can freeze the stock and freeze left over wontons.

• Cook egg noodles as per packet instructions.  I used fresh fried noodles so all I had to do was immerse the noodles into boiling water and swirl it around for 1 minute or less otherwise it will go mushy.  Divide the noodles into separate bowls.
• Set aside about 8 (or more) wontons per person.  Freeze left overs.
• Boil about 3 litres (or less) of the soup broth into another pot.
• When the broth comes to a rolling boil add the wontons and cook uncovered and when it floats, the wontons are ready but do check for its readiness by cutting a wonton in half.   It takes about 3 minutes to cook and this all depends how much filling you put inside the wontons.   Make sure have all fillings equally to cook properly and at the same time.  Add the bok choy and heat through for 2 minutes.  

With the divided bowls, ladle soup and bok choy over the noodles and add about 8 wontons in each bowl.  Serve immediately!