Wonton Soup

On my first overseas trip, i visited Hong Kong with my dad, and was delighted to discover the world of dumplings. Xiao long bao, har gow, siu mai... the list went on, but one of my favorite dishes grew to become wonton soup: a beautiful light chicken broth, bobbing with succulent wontons.

Here in Melbourne the quality of wonton soup, and in particular the wontons themselves, varies considerably. This recipe, which i have tweaked from an original by one of my favorite foodblogs, Rasa Malaysia, uses only prawns and no pork in the wontons, for a wonderfully crunchy burst of flavour contained in the little parcels. I was particularly proud of the broth as well, which came out magically similar to the ones i had tasted in Hong Kong.

Ingredients

Stock (Makes 1.5 litres)

•  1kg chicken marylands
• 200gm ham off the bone
• 300gm lean pork
• 6 cups water

Wanton Soup (Serves 4 as entree)

•  3 cups stock (see above)
• 12 prawns, shelled and deveined
• 1/4 cup water chestnuts, chopped
• 1 small bunch chives
• 1/2 tsp cornflour
• Dash of sesame oil
• Dash of fish sauce
• Dash of salt and pepper

Method

Stock

Place all of the meat in a medium saucepan and cover with 6 cups cold water

Bring the water to a boil then reduce to a bare simmer
Cover, and cook for 3 hours, skimming any scum that floats to the surface of the water away
Drain the stock through a sieve and refrigerate
When cold, skim the congealed oil off the top of the stock and either discard or save for another use

Wonton Soup

To make the wontons:
Rinse the prawns under cold water for a few minutes

Chop each prawn into 3 pieces
Combine the prawns with 1/2 of the chives, chopped, as well as the fish sauce, water chestnuts salt, pepper, cornflour and sesame oil.
Let sit for 30 minute to marinade.

Take a wonton wrapped and place 1 tsp (around 3 pieces of prawn) into the centre.

Dab a bit of water onto two touching edges of the wonton and fold the wonton over itself to form a triangle

Press the edges together to form a tight seal, squeezing out as much air as possible from the wonton
Take one 'tip' of the triangle and wrap around to the other, pressing together.

Place on a lightly floured plate and repeat until you have 12 wontons and all prawn mixture is used.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil
Meanwhile, bring the stock to a simmer and add the remaining chopped chives, a dash of sesame oil and salt and pepper to taste. Keep at a bare simmer

Place the wontons into the boiling water and boil for 5 minutes, or until cooked and floating on the surface.

Place 3 wontons in each bowl and evenly divide the soup over each one.