Wontons for Soup

I love wontons. Not the crispy ones, though. But I would eat boiled or steamed wontons forever.

Last night I made some. Sean and I decided to skip the soup portion because, well, we didn't know if the wontons would turn out, honestly. And I kind of like them like dumplings. I had 2 recipes lined up, one more traditional and one less traditional. Since my wrappers are approaching the date they expire, I'll be making the other recipe tonight. WONTON OVERLOAD.

Anyway here's my wonton adventures from last night. For a much more detailed explanation of wontons and wonton soup making, please check the link down near the recipe. She has a lot more information in her post than is just in the recipe I copy in here.

Let's make wontons!

For this recipe, I used ground turkey, green onions, teriyaki (or soy) sauce, dry sherry (I used cooking sherry, all I had), sesame oil, fresh ginger, an egg and salt, if it needs it.

I also added a few cloves of garlic.

Mix all your ingredients together. Mine was pretty wet and soft, maybe because I skipped the 1/4 pound of shrimp in the recipe, but it came together just fine. I cooked a small amount in a small frying pan to test my mixture before filling to see if it needed more of anything.

Add just under a teaspoon to your wrapper. And boy you don't want to overfill these, they will not seal right, so better to go a little under while you find the perfect amount. You'll know pretty fast when you've got too much in there.

Then dip your finger in a little water and run it along two sides of the wonton, then fold the top over to seal.

The color of my hands frightens me.

Then, you wet the two side corners and pinch them upwards and hold together for a few seconds.

And repeat a million times. Wontons are definitely a labor of love. Some people might just think it's better to buy them, and honestly, I definitely won't make wontons all the time after having tried it. But it was pretty satisfying. And yummy.

Then you boil them for around 4 minutes. There's this complex thing where you keep adding water to the pot. I kinda half tried it, I don't know if it mattered.

We dipped them in teriyaki sauce and they were awesome.

Here's the recipe for wonton soup, just follow the wonton instructions if you want to skip the soup part.

Wonton Soup (original recipe found here)
For the wontons:

• 1/2 lb. ground pork (you can substitute ground turkey)
• 1/4 lb. peeled shrimp, chopped
• 1/4 cup finely minced green onions
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbs. light soy sauce
• 1 Tbs. dry sherry
• 2 tsp. Asian sesame oil
• 1 tsp. minced ginger root
• Salt, to taste, if needed
• 1 package (1 lb.) wonton wrappers

For the Soup

• 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth simmered with 3 or 4 slices peeled fresh ginger for 10 to 15 minutes
• 1 large bunch spinach, tough stems removed, leaves washed and cut into wide strips   

To make the wontons, in a medium bowl, combine the pork, shrimp, and green onions. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, soy sauce, sherry, sesame oil and ginger juice. Stir the egg mixture into the pork mixture, mixing well. Bring a saucepan three-fourths full of water to a boil, add a small ball of the pork mixture to the water, and poach until cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain, taste and adjust the seasonings with soy sauce, ginger root or a little salt.

To assemble the wontons, lay out a wrapper and place a teaspoon or so of the mixture in the center of each wrapper. Dip your finger in water and spread along two edges of each wrapper. Fold each in half on the diagonal to form a triangle and press the seams to seal securely. Place on a baking sheet. Repeat until all the stuffing is used; you should have about 48 wontons. Wrap any leftover wrappers airtight and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Refrigerate the wontons until needed.

In a large saucepan, bring the broth to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low to maintain a gentle simmer. At the same time, bring a large saucepan half-full of water to a boil. Carefully drop the wontons into the boiling water. When the water returns to a boil, add 1 1/2 cups cold water. When the water returns to a boil, add 1 more cup cold water. Return to a boil again, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the filling is cooked through, about 4-5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the wontons to the simmering broth. Add the spinach and simmer until it wilts, about 1 minute.

To serve, ladle the soup into 6 large warmed bowls, dividing the wontons evenly. Serves 6.
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I've read on several sites that they prefer to boil the wontons first rather than add them to the broth because it clouds the broth a little. I'm honestly more interested in the wontons than the soup. I'll probably just skip that entirely most of the time.

Hope you enjoy them if you try them. They really weren't difficult, just kind of worrying. But I worry about everything. And they turned out great! So don't let that stop you.