Shanghai-style wonton soup

In Shanghai, wontons form part of what might be the city’s favourite breakfast. A light broth (sometimes just the starchy water the wontons have been cooked in) is flavoured with a little sesame oil, spring onion and pepper, and acts as a soup to hold delicious wontons filled with pork and green vegetables. Destination Flavour China

• serves

  4

• prep

  1:30 hour

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Stream free On Demand

Shanghai

episode • Destination Flavour China • 

cooking • 

25m

PG

episode • Destination Flavour China • 

cooking • 

25m

PG

Ingredients

• 40-50 wheat wonton wrappers
• 2 litres strong clear chicken stock or other soup stock
• Sesame oil and freshly ground white pepper, to serve

Filling

• 1 bunch baby bok choy, washed
• 500 g fatty pork mince
• 6 spring onions, finely minced, dark green ends reserved for serving
• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tbsp potato flour or cornflour
• 1 tsp salt

Chilling time 30 mins

Instructions

1. For the filling, bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the bok choy and cook for 3 minutes or until softened.

2. Drain very well, then finely chop it and squeeze out any excess water.

3. Place in a large bowl with the remaining filling ingredients and stir to combine well but only in one direction. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

4. Working one at a time, spread about 1 teaspoon of filling into the centre of a wonton wrapper and fold upwards in half to create a rectangle.

5. Moisten the bottom corners of the rectangle with a little water and bring them together, pressing one on top of the other to create a three-dimensional dumpling shape.

6. When ready to serve, bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil.

7. Cooking in batches, add one batch of wontons to the boiling water and wait until the water returns to the boil, then add a small ladle of cold water to stop the water from boiling too vigorously. Boil wontons for about 3 minutes or until they rise to the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in a serving bowl.

8. Ladle over the hot soup stock or just a little of the boiling liquid. Add a dash of sesame oil, a sprinkling of reserved spring onion greens and white pepper. Serve immediately. 

Photography by Adam Liaw.

Destination Flavour China with Adam Liaw airs 7.30pm, Wednesday on SBS and then on SBS On Demand. Visit the program page for recipes, videos and more.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Stream free On Demand

Shanghai

episode • Destination Flavour China • 

cooking • 

25m

PG

episode • Destination Flavour China • 

cooking • 

25m

PG