dinner:
hot and sour soup with chicken wontons
Published 19th July 2017
A hot and sour soup is something I have been wanting to cook for ages. I was originally planning on cooking it with some shredded poached soup but then decided I would make some wontons – best decision!
If you haven’t made wontons before and have access to wonton wrappers (most supermarkets stock them these days), they are SO easy, and when the edges are lined with adequate liquid and squeezed together well, they hold they shape really well. If you just feel like making these wontons without the soup, they won’t disappoint and I would recommend steaming them, but I do encourage going to the extra effort of the hot and sour soup, you will not be disappointed.
My initial idea was that I would cook the dumplings for the kids in the soup and then serve them with some steamed veggies without the soup, but then I added too much chilli so decided just to steam theirs – glad I did as they would NOT have eaten them with the fabulous burn that the soup had. Mark demolished about 6 dumplings and Claire picked the wrapper off and happily ate the filling.
Overall, this is a really healthy dish – plenty of veg, a wholesome, nourishing broth, especially when the stock has been made from scratch, and a good source of protein in the chicken and a little bit of carbs in the wrapper – a nice complete meal.
Enjoy xx
Ingredients:
Vegetable Stock
2 large carrots
1 medium sweet potato
2 red onions
2 cloves garlic
Off cuts of bunch of celery
Green part of 2 leeks
4 bay leaves
2 tsp black peppercorns
4.5L water
Wontons
Square wonton wrappers
350g chicken mince
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2cm knob of ginger, grated
2 tbs coriander leaves, chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp worchestershire sauce
Square Wonton Wrappers
350g chicken mince
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2cm knob of ginger, grated
2 tbs coriander leaves, chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp worchestershire sauce
Method:
To make the stock, place all the vegetables into a stock pot, top with 4.5L of water and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for at least 2 hours with the lid ajar.
To make the wonton filling, place the minced chicken into a medium sized bowl with garlic, ginger, coriander, spring onions, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and worchestershire sauce.
Using a spoon, mix well to combine. Lay out the wonton wrapper and place ~1 tsp of chicken mixture into the centre of the wonton wrapper. Wet all edges with some water and bring the 4 corners together, lift the sides up to meet the corners, squeeze together and twist. Place on a plate lined with baking paper.
Repeat with remaining mixture. Once all wontons have been made, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate until needed.
For the soup, place 3L of vegetable stock in a large pot. Remove stalks from kaffir lime leaves and add leaves to the pot along with lemongrass, ginger, chilli, lemon and lime juice, fish sauce and brown sugar. Bring to the boil then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes.
Add the wontons, and baby corn and cook for a further 10 minutes. When the wontons float to the surface, they are cooked. When cooked, divide the wontons between the bowls.
Add the quartered bok choy into the pot for 1-2 minutes to cook. Divide wontons and baby corn between bowls and top with soup.
Serve with fresh coriander and extra sliced chilli, if desired.