Supper Club VI: Wonton Soup
While everyone else was finishing up their bagels, I was in the kitchen plating the soup course. Selecting the soup was somewhat tricky. After all, the original Jewish Soul Food Supper Club had had used matzo ball soup, even if it was Indian spiced. There aren't any other truly iconic Jewish soups, and I wasn't making borscht. Fortunately, inspiration struck and I decided that wonton soup would work just fine. After all, there's very little that's more traditionally Jewish than Chinese food.
My sister and I looked through a bunch of recipes and decided to make one from Pretty Tasty Things from someone named Isabel Canfield that looked pretty good to us.
Homemade Wonton Soup
Serves 8
Wontons
1 package wonton wrappers, about 45
7 oz shrimp, shelled and chopped
14 oz ground pork
1/2 egg white
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon ginger, minced
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Broth
2 boxes of 32 oz low sodium chicken stock
3 scallions, sliced in half
3 slices of ginger
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1-2 handfuls of spinach (we used half a pound per batch)
chopped scallions and cilantro for garnish
First, we prepare the wontons.
1. In a medium-size bowl, combine with a fork the following ingredients: chopped shrimp, ground pork, egg white, corn starch, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, sugar and salt. We actually did this in the food processor to save on chopping the shrimp.
2. Take one wonton wrapper and lay it flat on the board in a diamond shape. Scoop one little teaspoon of filling into the lower center of the wrapper.
3. Wet the edges of the wonton wrapper with water. Take the bottom corner and fold over to form a triangle. Seal all the edges and remove any air pockets. Moisten the left and right corners of the triangle, then draw them together and pinch to seal.
4. Repeat 2-3 until you've used all the filling or all the wrappers. Cover the wontons with a damp paper towel to keep them from drying out.
Now, the broth.
5. In a large saucepan, add chicken broth, green onions, ginger slices, sesame oil and soy sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes on medium temperature.
6. Once the broth has simmered, slowly drop the wontons one at a time, stirring gently to prevent it from sticking together. Cook the wontons for an additional 10 minutes.
7. At the last 2 minutes of cooking, drop a heaping handful of spinach. The spinach takes only seconds to wilt.
8. Spoon soup into bowls and top with chopped scallions and cilantro.
I didn't find wonton wrappers on my initial trip to the grocery store on Thursday night. I was fully prepared to go downtown to an Asian market, but tigerlily_blue clued me into a little secret: wonton wrappers are in the produce section, near organics.
Based on the recipe, I had originally expected to make two full batches on wonton soup and bought ingredients accordingly. Then, while my sister made bagels, I prepped wontons. I made one batch of filling and started wrapping. And wrapping. And wrapping. And oh my god how many wontons is this batch of filling going to make and why does my back hurt so much from standing in one place for so long and have I really been doing this for nearly two hours?!
Yes, one batch of filling made 91 wontons, just shy of two full packages of wonton wrappers. Under the circumstances, I opted not to make a second batch. All of the wontons were put into plastic containers, with each layer separated by a damp paper towel to keep them from sticking together.
The next day I started the broth up about an hour before dinner started at 6pm. I got two pot started. Each was primed with a few cups of some homemade chicken broth I'd prepped a few weeks previously. The rest was filled out by boxed broth. Everything else was simple; I prevailed on John to chop up the cilantro for me but this is otherwise the only one of the dishes that I personally made without any assistance.
Two pots made almost exactly enough soup. We only had a few wontons and even less broth left over. Everybody seemed to really enjoy it. I'll probably make this again - but I'm going to make half as many wontons!
After the soup, it was time for some sweet kugel...
My sister and I looked through a bunch of recipes and decided to make one from Pretty Tasty Things from someone named Isabel Canfield that looked pretty good to us.
Homemade Wonton Soup
Serves 8
Wontons
1 package wonton wrappers, about 45
7 oz shrimp, shelled and chopped
14 oz ground pork
1/2 egg white
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon ginger, minced
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Broth
2 boxes of 32 oz low sodium chicken stock
3 scallions, sliced in half
3 slices of ginger
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1-2 handfuls of spinach (we used half a pound per batch)
chopped scallions and cilantro for garnish
First, we prepare the wontons.
1. In a medium-size bowl, combine with a fork the following ingredients: chopped shrimp, ground pork, egg white, corn starch, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, sugar and salt. We actually did this in the food processor to save on chopping the shrimp.
2. Take one wonton wrapper and lay it flat on the board in a diamond shape. Scoop one little teaspoon of filling into the lower center of the wrapper.
3. Wet the edges of the wonton wrapper with water. Take the bottom corner and fold over to form a triangle. Seal all the edges and remove any air pockets. Moisten the left and right corners of the triangle, then draw them together and pinch to seal.
4. Repeat 2-3 until you've used all the filling or all the wrappers. Cover the wontons with a damp paper towel to keep them from drying out.
Now, the broth.
5. In a large saucepan, add chicken broth, green onions, ginger slices, sesame oil and soy sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes on medium temperature.
6. Once the broth has simmered, slowly drop the wontons one at a time, stirring gently to prevent it from sticking together. Cook the wontons for an additional 10 minutes.
7. At the last 2 minutes of cooking, drop a heaping handful of spinach. The spinach takes only seconds to wilt.
8. Spoon soup into bowls and top with chopped scallions and cilantro.
I didn't find wonton wrappers on my initial trip to the grocery store on Thursday night. I was fully prepared to go downtown to an Asian market, but tigerlily_blue clued me into a little secret: wonton wrappers are in the produce section, near organics.
Based on the recipe, I had originally expected to make two full batches on wonton soup and bought ingredients accordingly. Then, while my sister made bagels, I prepped wontons. I made one batch of filling and started wrapping. And wrapping. And wrapping. And oh my god how many wontons is this batch of filling going to make and why does my back hurt so much from standing in one place for so long and have I really been doing this for nearly two hours?!
Yes, one batch of filling made 91 wontons, just shy of two full packages of wonton wrappers. Under the circumstances, I opted not to make a second batch. All of the wontons were put into plastic containers, with each layer separated by a damp paper towel to keep them from sticking together.
The next day I started the broth up about an hour before dinner started at 6pm. I got two pot started. Each was primed with a few cups of some homemade chicken broth I'd prepped a few weeks previously. The rest was filled out by boxed broth. Everything else was simple; I prevailed on John to chop up the cilantro for me but this is otherwise the only one of the dishes that I personally made without any assistance.
Two pots made almost exactly enough soup. We only had a few wontons and even less broth left over. Everybody seemed to really enjoy it. I'll probably make this again - but I'm going to make half as many wontons!
After the soup, it was time for some sweet kugel...