Recipe: Wonton Soup.

Wonton Soup

A reader writes:

Hi Kate,

I checked out your site looking for a recipe for wonton soup. Found recipe for wonton, noodle dough for wonton, but no recipe for the soup itself. Do you have a good one?

Regards:

Ken Millar
ken.millar@sympatico.ca

Hi, Ken,

As with so many classic and satisfying dishes, wonton soup is so basic and simple you really don't need much of a recipe. According to Helen Chen, whose late mother Joyce Chen was famous for her cookware which Helen still manufactures today, the Chinese eat wonton soup as a main course, not as the first course as is typically done in American restaurants.

Helen includes a recipe for wonton soup in her book, Helen Chen's Chinese Home Cooking.

Recipe:

Essentially, you boil and drain your stuffed wontons, then place them in bowls with about 4 to 6 per person. Add some chopped scallion and if desired, shredded fried egg, then ladle hot stock over them. The stock can be canned chicken stock but of course homemade is preferable. Whichever you decide to use, heat it up with a slice of gingerroot and let it come to a boil. Taste for salt and correct the seasonings if necessary. You can vary this recipe by adding slices of Chinese roast pork (cha shu), mushrooms, shrimp, greens like bok choy or spinach, bamboo shoots or other vegetables.

Helen Chen's Chinese Home Cooking
by Helen Chen
Willaim Morrow & Company (Hearst Books)
358 pages, Published 1994
ISBN 0-688-12756-8

For more online Chinese recipes:
Global Gourmet's China

Current Kate's Global Kitchen
Kate's Global Kitchen Archive