Last Saturday -Wonton Noodle Soup

Have you ever tried a Wonton Noodle Soup? If not, you must! They are hot with little bursts of delicious flavour. A favourite of mine is from a place called Happy Chef in Newtown. The broth is really gingery with just a few veggies and chicken. The wontons are also the best I have ever tried! Not the neatest dish to each as you slurp up the delicious soft rice noodles (a plus for Happy Chef as most other places offer them with egg noodles) and negotiate the piping hot wontons from the bowl to your mouth, but well worth it. I also love the way that you are given a little bowl of soy and chilli sauce so you can add to you liking.
I have a made a couple batches of my own wontons which I fill with a 50/50 mix of beef mince and sausage mince ( I have not yet tried with prawns as Luke is not a fan, besides Dad says mine are delicious! Shux Dad ).

The other day while having a look around 101cookbooks I stumbled across a recipe for Pea Dumplings and I thought these would be a perfect wonton for my soup!
So on Saturday night after a visit to Thomas Dux (who knew they sold wonton wrappers?) I was off to the kitchen and whizzing away and to my delight it worked! Luke enjoyed them so much he asked that I make them again this week! (Not so common for Luke to be that excited about one of my meals, spoilt boy really!)

Ingredients:

See 101cookbooks.com for ingredients for wontons. I made ¼ of the batch to feed 2 people.

2 Eggs whisked

Broth ( enough for 4 ):
2 Litres of good quality chicken stock ( for this one I use something like a pre-packaged Campbell’s and add a little powder for extra flavour )
2 carrots cut into chunky pieces
2 bunches of baby Bok Choy chopped into chunky slices ( use the whole vegatble not just the leaves! )
3 good sized tsp of ginger ( I used a jar today as I had non fresh )
1 good sized tsp garlic
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ finly sliced spring onions
couple of drops of fish sauce
pinch of salt
If you like chilli add some in too!

1 handful of softened rice noodles



Add all broth ingredients into a stock pot and bring to the boil. Now reduce it to a simmer and put the lid on while you make the wontons.

To make wontons follow the instructions on 101cookbooks.com. Below are my tips.
1. I put all ingredients in the mixer at once. Just means fewer things to clean.
2. Use a piece of baking paper underneath your wrappers when filling. Again allows for ease of cleaning.
3. I learnt how to fold my wrappers differently, the steps are below.
4. I boil mine rather than steam. This can be done in the stock pot so less cleaning up!

With the whisked egg spread a little on the edges of the wrapper. (This acts as a glue to help the edges stick together)
To ‘wrap them‘; fold wrappers in half to form a triangle.
Press edges down to ensure no air pockets are left (if air is trapped they will float so will not give you a clear indication of when they are cooked)
Now get two corners and over lay them. See picture for more detail.

Shortly before serving place wontons into broth.
You will know when they are ready when they float to the top.

If you like, with the leftover egg you can make an egg pancake by frying it up in a frypan.
Cut it into thin trips and when serving place a few in the bowl.

To serve put the softened rice noodles in the bottom of a bowl and ladle some broth and veggies on top.
Finally, place 4- 6 (depending on how hungry you are!) wontons on the very top.

Enjoy!