wonton noodle soup, again (with recipe)

it wasn't hard for me to decide what to make for my three minute audition tape for "the next food network star." wonton noodle soup is my all-time favorite comfort food. wontons, in chinese, actually means to swallow a cloud. for those of you unfamiliar, they are small little dumplings usually made with a square wrapper and then filled with a savory spoonful of shrimp and ground meat. it's a hearty dish that warms your belly and in my case, brings back great memories of cooking with my mom, my aunts and my grandmother when i was little.

even though my ma, for the most part, kept me out of the kitchen, i always managed to weasle my way in when it was time to wrap wontons. i would put a small spoonful of the filling into my wrapper and make all sorts of shapes. we would fill plate after plate with these small little dumplings, enough to feed a small army, which pretty much is the size of my family. my mom has seven siblings - five sisters and two brothers - and family gatherings at my grandparents house in jersey were always the real deal. everyone would bring their spouses and kids, and the chaos would commence. with so many people to feed, we would have to eat in shifts. after one platoon passed through, we'd get the water boiling for another batch of wontons, ready for another one to take their place at the table. those that weren't eating were chatting away in my ma's native chinese dialect chaozhou hua. and those that were eating were doing just the same. each time i bite into a wonton, i'm reminded of these chaotic days filled with indecipherable cacophonic sounds, family and of course, food.

after graduating from college, i spent six months teaching english and traveling throughout china. i started out living in the north in suzhou, a "small" city of seven million close to shanghai but was itching to travel south for some authentic cantonese cooking in guangdong province and hong kong where my family is originally from. it is here that you will find some of the best wonton noodle soup in the world. i would go to the dai pai dongs (basically, your hole in the wall dive) where you could get a bowl of soup brimming with all sorts of treasure for pennies. however, none ever compared to the hot piping bowls of wontons and noodles  that came out of my grandma's kitchen. for those of you who'll never make it to my grandma's home or to southern china, here is a video that does this dish way more justice than my measly three minute audition tape.

*******************************wonton noodle soup
serves 4
cooking time: 45 minuteswonton noodle soup is actually a very simple dish to make. the hardest part for most cooks might be rounding up all the asian ingredients. you will be able to find all of these ingredients in a local asian grocery store if you have one in your area. if you don't, try ordering online or scoping out the ethnic food aisle at your neighborhood grocery store. you'll be surprised, but many will stock several of these ingredients, especially the sauces. after all, we do live in a globalizing world. the filling will require both oyster sauce and sesame oil, which adds a distinct savoriness to your meat. wonton wrappers and fresh egg noodles can be found in the refridgerator aisle of your chinese grocery store. the fish sauce is a pungent savory sauce made from fermented anchovies that will add great depth to our soup base. finally, our dipping sauce is made of a chinese black vinegar and chili garlic sauce to give each bite of our wontons a good kick.1/2 lb ground chicken or pork
salt and pepper
1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tbs oyster sauce1 tbs sesame oil
40 wonton wrappers
2 egg whites
2 quarts chicken broth
4 tbs fish sauce
3 carrots, chopped on a bias
1 package fresh egg/wonton noodles
dipping sauce (recipe below)
scallions, sliced for garnishfor filling: season meat with salt and pepper. chop up shrimp. add shrimp, oyster sauce and sesame oil to ground meat. mix thoroughly. to wrap wontons: whisk up two egg whites. place a small spoonful of filling into center of wrapper. using your finger, dab egg white onto two adjacent sides of the wrapper. fold in half diagonally to form a triangle (non-egg white coated sides to egg white coated sides). press and seal. dab one long corner of the triangle with egg white. pull the two long corners together to form a "golden nugget" shaped wonton.for soup: pour chicken broth into medium-sized pot. add fish sauce and bring to a boil. add carrots and lower to medium heat. let carrots cook in broth. they will add a subtle sweetness to our savory soup base. also try other vegetables like bok choy, shitake mushrooms or just plain lettuce.to cook wontons and noodles: fill two other medium sized pots with water. bring to a boil. add wontons into one pot and egg noodles in the other. swirl egg noodles around in water for 1 minute. drain into a colander and rinse with cold water. wontons are ready when they float to top of the water. to plate: put one serving of noodles into deep soup bowl. ladle two large spoonfuls of soup over noodles. add ten wontons. garnish with scallions. eat with chopsticks and chinese soup spoons.wonton dipping sauce1/4 cup black vinegar
1 tablespoon chili-garlic sauce
dash of sesame oilmix ingredients together

Comments

[Wayne]

Hi,

Could you please let me know how you embeded the video into your page.

Thanks!

[benjamin]

I'm drooling!

And I love the carrots idea, I'll have to try that.

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[Tracy]

Thank you for posting this Recipe. I was so impressed with your Audition Tape, especially after I read your Post about how you created it! I never thought that Wonton Soup would be so easy to make.
BTW, I finally made the Asian Bolognese and really liked it. It was more Meaty and less Tomatoey than I was expecting. Just a nice Hearty Sauce and a nice contrast in textures with the Rice, Meat and Tofu. Keep up the great work. I hope you keep posting more recipes.
PS. It's capitAl letters.

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I'm impressed that you made it as far as you did, you should be proud of yourself.

You were where SO many were'nt.

Love the recipe.

[Duncan]

I am going to have to try this recipe. I like wontons.

[Tracy]

I made this for company the other day and we all thought it was delish. I used half pork and half chicken and left out the shrimp in case of seafood allergies. As RR would say, Yummo!

[Lewis]

Thanks for that. There's a great Thai joint near my home that has a great pork wonton soup. This gets me thinkin'...

[meisha]

Thanks for the great recepi. I have one question! I saw you drained egg noodles with cold water. If we want to eat hot wantan noodle soup, do we re-heat noodles before putting it in the bowl?

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All i can say is that i am addicted to chinese noodles recently and i will surely be cooking this recipe. I also have a recipe blog here.

[Hiro]

i suggest u use more shrimp than pork or chicken:)

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hello,you wonton soup recipes are so cool,i really like it very much. thanks for sharing

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Do the noodles in chicken noodle soup contain any dairy products?
My daughter is allergic to milk, butter, etc. Can I feed her chicken noodle soup?

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after graduating from college, i spent six months teaching english and traveling throughout china. i started out living in the north in suzhou, a "small" city of seven million close to shanghai but was itching to travel south for some authentic cantonese cooking in guangdong province and hong kong where my family is originally from. it is here that you will find some of the best wonton noodle soup in the world. i would go to the dai pai dongs (basically, your hole in the wall dive) where you could get a bowl of soup brimming with all sorts of treasure for pennies. however, none ever compared to the hot piping bowls of wontons and noodles that came out of my grandma's kitchen. for those of you who'll never make it to my grandma's home or to southern china, here is a video that does this dish way more justice than my measly three minute audition tape.

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I have only tasted Wonton noodle soup a few times. My comfort food is chocolate or is it pie and icecream...no it's pizza. Thanks for the recipe.