Cantonese Wonton Soup with home-made chicken broth

My family love Cantonese Wonton Soup very much.  Every time we travel to Hong Kong, we must have a bowl of wonton soup.  Wonton noodles are very well-liked by the locals in Hong Kong.  When I was studying at high school, I always have a bowl of wonton noodles for lunch at least twice a week.  It looks like a simple dish but it requires a right combination of rich broth, eggy and springy noodles; and shrimp and pork in order to make a perfect bowl.  The best wonton noodles I have tasted are at Ho Hung Kee. The wontons are a decent size, filled with whole shrimp and some pork. The noodles were glossy, tasted firm and springy.

Today I make a bowl of wonton soup for lunch. I just boil some home-made chicken broth in a quick and simple way instead of canned chicken broth or chicken stock cubes.  I really like wonton soup.  It’s comforting.  It’s the perfect cure-all for a cold day.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serve: 1

Ingredients:

-      8 raw prawns (unpeeled and cleaned)

-      3 tsp egg white

-      8 pieces of wonton wrappers (square-shaped)

-      35g minced pork (10% fat)

-      A drizzle of light soy sauce                      

-      A drizzle of sesame oil

-      A pinch of pepper

-      A pinch of Himalayan pink salt

-      1 spring onion (chopped)

-      1-2 yellow chives (chopped in 2 cm length)

-      50 ml water

Soup:

-      2 cups homemade chicken broth or ready-made chicken broth

-      ¼ tsp sesame oil

Home-made chicken broth (superfast cooked):

-      bony chicken pieces (4-6 pieces of legs or 1 back bone)

-      1 garlic clove (sliced)

-      6g ginger (sliced)

-      1 spring onion (sliced)

-      1 shallot (sliced)

-      2 cups boiled water

-      1 tsp oil

-      ⅛tsp Himalayan pink salt or 1 tsp fish sauce

Method:

1.	Home-made chicken broth: Add oil in a non-stick small pan/saucepan over medium heat.  Add garlic, ginger, shallot and spring onion, then stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.  Then add the bony chicken pieces and keep on stir-frying for another 1-2 minutes.  In the meantime, add boiled water and cover.  Simmer for 20 minutes and add a pinch of Himalayan pink salt or fish sauce. Boil for a further 5 minutes. Remove from heat.  Strain the broth through a fine mesh colander into a saucepan.  Discard chicken pieces and other ingredients.  Set aside the clear chicken broth.
2.	Marinate the raw prawns with egg white, a pinch of pepper and a pinch of salt for 5-8 minutes.
3.	Marinate the minced pork with a drizzle of light soy sauce and sesame oil for 5-8 minutes.
4.	In a mixing bowl, mix the prawns and minced pork well. Divide the filling mixture in 8 equal parts, which is one raw prawn with some meat.
5.	Wrap wonton: Fill a small bowl with water. Place one part of filling mixture in the middle of the wrapper.  Wet the finger and run a little water around the edges of the wrapper.  Bring the bottom corner of the diamond up to meet the top corner.  Then press the pastry firmly around the filling mixture.  Dab a little water along the both sides and tightly fold the two corners into the middle.
6.	In a saucepan, add the sliced yellow chives and boil the ready-made homemade chicken broth over medium heat.  Place wontons inside for 3-4 minutes until they float.  Remove from heat.
7.	Drizzle sesame oil in a serving bowl. Place in the cooked wontons, chicken broth and chives
8.	Garnish with spring onion and ready to serve.
	Tips:
i.	You can make more wontons and keep them into freezer for further use.
ii.	There are three to four ways to wrap wontons.  I only suggest using the simplest way to do it.
iii.	For a more rich and strong flavor of home-made chicken broth, more ingredients and a whole chicken will be added. Normally it is simmered for 2-3 hours.