Pictorial: Cantonese Wonton Noodle Soup

[Kent Wang]

You put a lot of stuff into your soup. My family always made them very plain with maybe some vegetables and soy sauce, that's it.

[sheetz]

Cantonese style wonton soup is most commonly eaten with noodles and very few other ingredients. The wonton filling is made similar to yours except I think you didn't add cornstarch. And the method of wrapping is different. Read Ah Leung's pictorial to see what I'm describing.

Edited March 24, 2007 by sheetz (log)

[snekse]

You're both correct. Normally wonton soup is not made with so many ingredients. This was a bit of an experiment for a meme. Thanks for the link to Ah Leung's pictorial. That method for making wontons looks a lot less labor intensive :-)

[Dejah]

You're both correct.  Normally wonton soup is not made with so many ingredients.  This was a bit of an experiment for a meme.  Thanks for the link to Ah Leung's pictorial.  That method for making wontons looks a lot less labor intensive :-)

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Your pictorial is excellent! The version was indeed labour intensive, but I'll bet your last drop of the soup that you were well rewarded. My method of wrapping is similar to yours, except I use egg white. I don't use cornstarch in the filling either as the chopped shrimp provides the "binding". Try adding chopped waterchestnut into the filling mix next time. They add a nice texture.

It seems that you have combined three of my favourite soups into one: wonton, yut gah meen, and savory tong yuen. I would call this version not just wonton soup, not war wonton, but Delux Yut Gah wonton soup - enough for the whole family!

[bluesman13]

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:

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XiaoLing,

you're wonton dish reminds me of a dish called spicy wontons, or szechuan wontons. I've always loved them at restaurants and wanted to make that sauce at home. Is that what yours is, or is that red sauce coming from the other item in the same dish?

Steve

Edited March 26, 2007 by bluesman13 (log)

[Ben Hong]

You put a lot of stuff into your soup. My family always made them very plain with maybe some vegetables and soy sauce, that's it.

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Ditto.

Although, if I have leftovers or if I'm feeling a little fanciful, I might do something like XiaoLing-Mui. But I would definitely like hers better.

[XiaoLing]

XiaoLing,

you're wonton dish reminds me of a dish called spicy wontons, or szechuan wontons. I've always loved them at restaurants and wanted to make that sauce at home. Is that what yours is, or is that red sauce coming from the other item in the same dish?

Steve

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The red oils and sauce you see in my bowl is actually from one of my favorite chili sauces: Lao Gan Ma. I think it's one of the tastiest and most authentic chili sauces you can find out here. Plus my family in China uses the same brand!

I know of the dish you are talking about. You can do something similar at home.

In a plate, add Lan Gan Ma (or any of your favorite chili oil sauce), finely mined garlic (optional), light soy, sesame oil, sugar, sichuan peppercorn powder and scallions. Then boil some home made wontons and when cooked, ladel wontons on the plate with the ready made sauce. Sprinkle extra scallions on top and serve immediately.

Ditto.

Although, if I have leftovers or if I'm feeling a little fanciful, I might do something like XiaoLing-Mui. But I would definitely like hers better.

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Thank you uncle Ben! I really love a good nui lan stew so I love to put it in wonton soup or just over rice. But my family really doesn't do that at all. They just put a bit of spices on the botom and add purple seaweed and dried baby shrimp. It's good etiher way you make it.

[hzrt8w]

snekse: I see that you used lap cheung as one of the ingredients to make wonton. But I missed when/where you use them in your pictorial. Did you mix them with your ground pork and shrimp to make the filling?

[Dejah]

snekse: I see that you used lap cheung as one of the ingredients to make wonton.  But I missed when/where you use them in your pictorial.  Did you mix them with your ground pork and shrimp to make the filling?

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From the pictorial, snekes appears to have added the sliced lapcheung as a separate ingredient with leftover wonton filling meatballs. Ah Leung Si Low-ah: Put your glasses on lah.

Lapcheung would not work well IN the filling as that would ruin the texture. Slices add great flavour eaten alongside of wontons and all the other goodies in the soup, however.

[hzrt8w]

If all the leftover wonton filling ends up in the soup, why bother wrapping the wonton?

[Dejah]

If all the leftover wonton filling ends up in the soup, why bother wrapping the wonton?

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Because the wrappers are yummy? Besides, she may have a little filling left, but no more wrappers. It's better to throw it into the soup rather than freezing a golf ball size.

The keyword is leftover!

[hzrt8w]

The keyword is leftover!

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But... but... but... The purpose of using wrappers is to separate the meat from the broth - because meat will cloud up the broth. Chinese (Cantonese anyway) typically like clear broth with wontons. The minute you add the left over meat in it, it will cloudy up the broth.

[Dejah]

The keyword is leftover!

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But... but... but... The purpose of using wrappers is to separate the meat from the broth - because meat will cloud up the broth. Chinese (Cantonese anyway) typically like clear broth with wontons. The minute you add the left over meat in it, it will cloudy up the broth.

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It won't if there is no cornstarch used in the filling.

[snekse]

Our broth stays clear for the most part, but honestly, it's not a priority for us as long as it tastes good. If you have another use for left over filling, then by all means, leave it out. As for the point of the wrappers, that's my wife's favorite part :-)

[Shalmanese]

The keyword is leftover!

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But... but... but... The purpose of using wrappers is to separate the meat from the broth - because meat will cloud up the broth. Chinese (Cantonese anyway) typically like clear broth with wontons. The minute you add the left over meat in it, it will cloudy up the broth.

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Really? I thought the purpose of the wrappers was to keep a couple of hyperactive kids occupied for 3 hours.