Pictorial: Cantonese Wonton Noodle Soup

[hzrt8w]

Neat.  I like wontons.   I wrap them a little bit differently.   Instead of smushing the top in like a siu mai, I fold it in half into a triangle, and then connect the two corners, similar to a tortellini.

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Siu mai's, at least conventionally, have open tops, not closed. Cantonese wontons have closed tops, or else the filling tends to fall into the soup.

What you described seems to be the "Hung Yau Chow Shou" [Cantonese pronounciation], or Shanghainese wontons, which looks like this:

Edited April 11, 2006 by hzrt8w (log)

[Pan]

Ah Leung,

You mentioned to me that ground turkey was an option for your wontons. What do you mix it with? Still shrimp?

I have made wontons with ground chicken, chopped waterchestnuts and ginger.

Just doesn't "do it" for me, but my Muslim friends appreciate it.[...]

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Don't your Muslim friends eat seafood? Most Muslims consider seafood halal.

[hzrt8w]

[...]You mentioned to me that ground turkey was an option for your wontons. What do you mix it with? Still shrimp?  [...]

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Yes. I think the best wontons should contain 2 different textures in the filling: The soft, bouncy meat (ground pork or other ground meat) and the relatively crunchy shrimp. Sad to say, many of the Chinese restaurants in the USA would only use ground pork to make wontons. Or that they grind the shrimp along with the pork where you cannot taste 2 different textures.

[Dejah]

Ah Leung,

You mentioned to me that ground turkey was an option for your wontons. What do you mix it with? Still shrimp?

I have made wontons with ground chicken, chopped waterchestnuts and ginger.

Just doesn't "do it" for me, but my Muslim friends appreciate it.[...]

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Don't your Muslim friends eat seafood? Most Muslims consider seafood halal.

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If I were just serving wontons, I would make shrimp wontons for my Muslim friends. But sometimes, it's part of a meal, then I make them with chicken so I can use shrimp as a main course.

I think of the waterchestnuts as textural contrast. The shrimp is chopped, not ground, so it does add a texture as well as a flavour.

I also fold my wontons the same way as stephenc - like a tortellini, but that's just for the soup ones. For the deep fried ones, I fold into a triangle, then pleat in the two corners, more like old party hats made from crepe paper. I also use a thicker wrapper for deep fried ones. With these two differences, we can easily tell which tray is for soup, etc.

[jo-mel]

Thank you all for your comments and kind words.

The reason why I separate the soup and noodle/wonton boiling water:  These noodles (and wonton wrappers too) bear a lot of soda-based substances.  The taste is a bit nasty.  While I can use the same boiling water for wontons and noodles, definitely keep the soup separate.

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Another reason is to keep the soup stock clear. The wonton/noodle cooking water doesn't have the clarity after a batch has been cooked.

[Dejah]

Thank you all for your comments and kind words.

The reason why I separate the soup and noodle/wonton boiling water:  These noodles (and wonton wrappers too) bear a lot of soda-based substances.  The taste is a bit nasty.  While I can use the same boiling water for wontons and noodles, definitely keep the soup separate.

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Another reason is to keep the soup stock clear. The wonton/noodle cooking water doesn't have the clarity after a batch has been cooked.

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That's why I said "I don't like to wash up, so I just use one pot: cook up the noodles, rinse the pot, bring stock to boil, add wontons, lap cheung, vegetables, serve over noodles topped with a dollop of ma la oil."

I didn't find the stock clouded by the wontons. Perhaps the kind of wrappers make the difference.

[annachan]

Neat.  I like wontons.  I wrap them a little bit differently.  Instead of smushing the top in like a siu mai, I fold it in half into a triangle, and then connect the two corners, similar to a tortellini.

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That's what I've done, too. Or fold in half to a rectangle, pull the tails together, and make a nurses cap. OR using a wooden depressor, put the mix on the depressor, put the wonton over it and pull the whole thing off, squeezing the filling in.

But, it looks like hzrt's method looks nice and quick. I'm going to give that way a try.

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At home, I prefer to fold it into rectangles and then make the cap (Shanghainese style). My aunt usually make hers the triangle method (not sure where that originate from). Even though I grew up in Hong Kong and is used to having the smushed top (Cantonese style) wonton when out, I don't like making them at home. The reason is that I find the smushed part of the wonton tends to be thick with dough and are at times undercook. Also, you can get more stuffing into the Shanghainese style fold. So, I use the same stuffing for Cantonese wonton and just fold it my way. It takes a little more time but I'm so use to the fold that I can make them pretty quickly.

BTW, Ah Leung, thanks so much for another wonderful post with awesome pics!

[jo-mel]

"Smushed top" ?

I love that term!!!!

[PCL]

The broth at Mak's Noodles in Hong Kong has a discernable flavour of herbs in it. An almost bitter aftertaste, but I prefer to say 'dry' as in wine!

Ah Leung, I've seen and tasted wonton broths with the addition of scallops, pork bones (spare ribs) and a few small red dates (kei-chi) to jack the flavour. Do you do this too, or have I missed something?

[hzrt8w]

[...]Ah Leung, I've seen and tasted wonton broths with the addition of scallops, pork bones (spare ribs) and a few small red dates (kei-chi) to jack the flavour. Do you do this too, or have I missed something?

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Pein: I didn't make my own wonton broth when I made this dish. Making broth takes a long time. I cheated. I only used canned chicken broth.

From what I understand, in Hong Kong the noodle houses put charred dried fish (called "Dai Day Yu" (Big Ground Fish) in Cantonese) to make the broth. That makes the characteristic Cantonese wonton broth one tastes in Hong Kong. I have never tried it. Too much work.

Edited April 12, 2006 by hzrt8w (log)

[Hest88]

Your tutorials are always great...and always make me hungry!

Typical male, though, to cheat when making the won-tons. The women in our family make the "nurse's hat" won-tons as well, but my dad likes to use your "squish and boil" method too!

[I_call_the_duck]

Typical male, though, to cheat when making the won-tons. The women in our family make the "nurse's hat" won-tons as well, but my dad likes to use your "squish and boil" method too!

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I've also seen them shaped like beggar's purses (somewhat similar to the squish method). I don't remember how Dad used to wrap them, but Mom always chastised me if I didn't make the "nurse's hat." Although when I was a kid and I got bored making them the "proper" way, I'd wrap them like eggrolls. Nowadays, it's back to "nurse's hats."

Thanks, Ah Leung. Great tutorial as always.

[Sencha]

This looks incredibly good! I've never made wontons before, so maybe it's about time I do so. Great pictorial, as usual!

[jo-mel]

Once I was teaching a class of kids how to make wontons. I showed them the easiest way -- the triangle and pulling the tips together. Well -- they got creative and one tried to outdo the other! They all tasted the same when cooked, tho.

[hzrt8w]

Triangle and tortellini I can understand. Beggar's purse and nurse's hat... I need to use some imagination...

[Dejah]

Triangle and tortellini I can understand.  Beggar's purse and nurse's hat... I need to use some imagination...

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Beggar's purse would be a bag with drawstring near the top. So when you smush up (That's for you, Jo-mel), squeeze a little lower and you'd have a gathering of the pastry at the top = beggar's purse.

To see the nurse's hat, check out your local hospital.

[jo-mel]

To see the nurse's hat, check out your local hospital.

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Dejah --Have you checked out a hospital lately? LOL! You can't tell an RN from an aide! For some reason they phased out nurse's caps in the 80's. (At least down here in the lower 48s.) The only time you see them is with some die-hards. I always wanted to wear a standard nurse's cap, but when I went into nurses training, I realized that my hospital of choice had small folded crinoline caps. I got to love them, but soooo wished they were my standard dream cap!

hzrt -- If you fold the wrapper into a rectangle,( instead of a triangle), then pull together the two side tails on the folded edge, the unfolded top edge will pop up into the nurses cap shape. The triangle one does the same, but is not a standard nurses's cap.

Here's a picture:

http://www.civilization.ca/hist/infirm/images/in26753b.jpg

[Dejah]

To see the nurse's hat, check out your local hospital.

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Dejah --Have you checked out a hospital lately? LOL! You can't tell an RN from an aide! For some reason they phased out nurse's caps in the 80's.

Here's a picture:

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You're right, jo-mel! Haven't been very observant in the hospital lately.

[onehsancare]

In the picture of the main ingredients, there's a package with a white label that you describe as "package of Cantonese wonton wrappers." The next picture, though, shows a clear package, about which you say, "These are the . . . wonton wrappers (wonton skins) that I like."

Which do you prefer? If I find two packages, both looking yellow and thin, how can we tell which would be superior in the soup?

(Or, is this just more evidence of my compulsive nature?)

[hzrt8w]

In the picture of the main ingredients, there's a package with a white label that you describe as "package of Cantonese wonton wrappers."  The next picture, though, shows a clear package, about which you say, "These are the . . . wonton wrappers (wonton skins) that I like."

Which do you prefer?  If I find two packages, both looking yellow and thin, how can we tell which would be superior in the soup? 

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I like them both. I shop at different Asian markets and they don't carry the same brand. I usually eye-ball the product and pick the ones I like and not much pay attention to the brand names - as they can be all different.

In making this pictorial I think I was using up one package and about to open the other.

The yellow and thin wrapper is the best for Cantonese wonton. The white and thick wrapper is for jiaozi (dumpling), Northern Chinese style.

[Cookwithlove]

I want to compliment and salute ah Leung for his maha(great) effort and his love for cooking by showing us details instruction supported by photos all the way to the finished product. How I really wish someday some kind chefs in the western world do a fine dining like what ah leung did. Keep up the excellent work!

I intend to emulate the example of ah leung. I learnt alots from such a short span of time since joining egullet.

Thanks you very much for all of us at egullet.

Edited February 19, 2007 by Cookwithlove (log)

[Dejah]

In the picture of the main ingredients, there's a package with a white label that you describe as "package of Cantonese wonton wrappers."  The next picture, though, shows a clear package, about which you say, "These are the . . . wonton wrappers (wonton skins) that I like."

Which do you prefer?  If I find two packages, both looking yellow and thin, how can we tell which would be superior in the soup? 

(Or, is this just more evidence of my compulsive nature?) 

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There really is quite a variety in wonton wrappers. I prefer the thinnest ones for soup wontons, and the thicker ones for deep fried wontons as they are sturdier.

I also use the thin ones for siu mai, after I trim them into circles with a scalloped-edged cookie cutter.

The thick white ones are usually round in our part of the world. These are used for jiaozi.

[snekse]

I didn't even realize there was a Chinese Cuisine section here on eGullet. Well, since I've already posted my photo recipe to Flickr, I'm just going to link to it. I'd be interested to know how this differs from what everyone else makes at home.

HOW TO: Wonton Soup

[XiaoLing]

Looks great snekse!

I think everyone does their wonton's a bit differently at home.

For one, my family doesn't usually like to make a stock for the wontons. We usually season the bottom of the bowl with various seasonings and items (seaweed, dried shrimp, etc.) and then ladel the wontons plus the pasta water used to boil the wontons. I also like to make a braised dish and add it on top sometimes to make a meal.

Here's a pic of my wonton dish:

[snekse]

Oooo, that looks really good.