This wonton soup, with pork and ginger, is a fun and delicious take on a classic Chinese take-out dish.
This soup, with its refreshing gingery chicken broth, pork and ginger filling, along with a crunchy addition of romaine, is a light and wonderful first course to a multi-course Chinese-style feast. I also love it for a light lunch.
Making this wonton soup is actually pretty easy and the results are very satisfying. The most tedious part is wrapping the wontons. Fortunately, you can do this ahead of time if you like and then freeze the wonton for cooking later.
Shaping the wontons reminded me of shaping pierogies or potstickers. It can take a little time and is often more fun doing with friends or family. In this case, you only need to make about 20 to 25 wontons, which is pretty easy to accomplish on your own.
Wontons can be made into many shapes, most of them pretty easy. To make them, first you make the filling. Then you place it in the middle of the wrapper....
After that, brush the edges that you want to stick together with warm water and then shape the wontons. In this case, I folded them into triangles, and then folded the points together in the center to resemble a pope's hat.
You could also shape them by folding them in half into rectangles, and then press the bottom corners of the fold together to form what resembles a nurse's hat.
You could also fold the wontons in to simple triangles and leave it at that. As I went down the wonton rabbit hole, I found many more shaping and folding techniques I want to try!
Once you've formed the wontons, you can either freeze them for later or simmer them in the broth until the filling is cooked. (One of these days I'm looking forward to trying to make fried wontons with this filling. Fried wontons are one of my favorite Chinese take-out appetizers).
Ingredients in This Wonton Soup:
Wonton Wrappers: I used store bought wonton wrappers, usually found near the produce or cheese section. They should be at least three-inch squares. Typically, they are made with wheat, water, and eggs, although there are vegan versions available.
Filling: I used ground pork, chopped scallions, soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, Shaoxing rice wine, and corn starch. I used an 80/20 mix of ground pork (lean to fat) for an extra juicy filling, but lean ground pork, which is usually easier to find, works just fine. If you don't have the Chinese rice cooking wine, dry sherry is a great substitute.
I loved the filling as is, but you could also add some finely chopped shrimp if you like, and even a little bit of minced garlic.
Broth: Either homemade or store-bought low sodium chicken broth, soy sauce, and peeled and thinly sliced ginger. If your broth is unsalted, you may need some salt as well.
Hearts of Romaine Lettuce Leaves: These are layered in your bowl and blanched, just a little, as the broth is poured over it. It's cooked, but keeps some of its crunch. You can also use thinly sliced napa cabbage or baby bok choy as well.
Scallions: For topping the soup.
The ingredients in this recipe are very accessible.
To Assemble the Soup:
First, into a 4 quart sauce pan, add the chicken broth, soy sauce, and sliced ginger, and simmer for about 20 minutes, while you assemble the wontons.
In a small bowl, mix together the pork, some soy sauce, scallions, Shaoxing, minced ginger, and cornstarch with your hand or a large fork until everything is mixed together .
Drop the mixture by teaspoon onto the wonton wrappers. Using you finger, a pastry brush, or the back of a spoon, moisten the edges of the wonton wrappers with warm water and form the wrappers into a triangle, pressing the edges together. Then, moisten the corners of the triangle and press them together to form a "Pope's Hat" shape.
Remove the ginger slices from the broth, and drop in the wontons, one at a time, and cook for about 8 minutes. Strain out the cooked wontons and divide them among four bowls.
Next, top the wontons with the sliced greens.
Pour the hot broth over each bowl and garnish with the scallions.
If you have leftover soup, remove the wontons from the broth and store them separately from the broth so that they don't become too mushy.
I place them on a parchment lined plate and, once they've cooled, I cover them with oiled plastic wrap and store them in the refrigerator.
The cooked wontons will keep for up to four days this way. Just reheat them in some of the leftover broth to serve.
P.S. The wontons will usually hold together while simmering in the broth, but if one or two fall apart, it's okay. It's just noodles. The filling will hold together too.
The wontons will expand a bit as well, so don't fret too much if they don't look exactly like they did when you dropped them in the broth.
"W" is for Whole Wheat, Watermelon, Wontons, Walnuts, Whiskey, and White Beans.
Ten more recipes with ingredients starting with W:
- Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Whole Wheat Waffles
- Culinary Cam: Roasted Watermelon Radish with Maple-Kissed Tahini Sauce
- Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Homemade Wonton Soup with Pork and Ginger
- Blogghetti: Slow Cooker Ham and White Bean Soup
- Food Lust People Love: Honey Walnut Brittle
- A Messy Kitchen: Whiskey Sriracha Caramel Corn
- Sneha’s Recipe: Cheesy Wafer Pav
- A Day in the Life on the Farm: Salted Caramel Whiskey Espresso Cocktail
- Mayuri’s Jikoni: Walnut Chocolate Tartlets
- Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Whiskey-Soaked Raisin Baked Stove Top Stuffing
- Magical Ingredients: Wintermelon Whole Wheat Paratha
Homemade Wonton Soup with Pork and Ginger
Ingredients
- 2 quarts reduced sodium or slightly salted homemade chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
- 1 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled, one inch minced and two inches thinly sliced
- 1/4 pound ground pork
- 2 large scallions, thinly sliced, green and white parts separated
- 1/2 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, plus more for sprinkling
- 20 square wonton wrappers
- 2 hearts of romaine lettuce leaves, halved lengthwise and thinkly sliced crosswise
Instructions
- In a 4-quart sauce pan, combine the chicken broth, 2 tablespoons of the soy sauce, and the sliced ginger. Bring to a boil and then simmer on low heat while you are assembling the wontons.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the pork, the rest of the soy sauce, grated ginger, scallion whites, rice wine, cornstarch, and sesame oil and mix by hand until everything is combined.
- Lay out 20 to 25 wonton wrappers on your work surface and place a teaspoon of the pork mixture in the middle of each. Use your finger or the back of a spoon to brush the edges with water and then fold the wontons in half to form triangles, gently pressing out any air. Then, dampen the corners of the widest part of the triangle and press them together (see photo above). Continue with the rest of the wontons.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove the ginger slices from the broth. Raise the temperature of the broth to a a high simmer and add the wontons, one at a time so they don't stick together, and then simmer for about 5 to 8 minutes.
- Using the slotted spoon, divide the wontons among four bowls and top with the shredded lettuce. Divide the hot broth among the bowls and sprinkle with the scallion greens.
- Finish with one or two drops of sesame oil and serve.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
233Fat (grams)
8 gSat. Fat (grams)
2 gCarbs (grams)
26 gFiber (grams)
1 gNet carbs
25 gSugar (grams)
3 gProtein (grams)
13 gCholesterol (grams)
33 mgAdapted from an old copy I had of Fine Cooking magazine, April/May 2013. Author: Julissa Roberts.
