Cantonese wonton noodle soup is my comfort dish growing up. Every now and then, my grandma or my mum would take me to one of the famous wonton noodle shops and buy me a bowl as a special treat. It's one of those highly technical soup noodles that takes years to perfect every single component. The best egg noodles were made using only duck eggs. The noodle masters would sit on a long bamboo stick with one end attached and the dough underneath, they would move the bamboo stick up and down and use their body weight to knead the dough until it's smooth and well formed so the cooked noodles are bouncy and full of egg flavours. The soup base were made with pork bones, dried flounder, soy bean sprouts simmer on lowest heat for hours to extract the full favour. And finally, the wonton should have a perfect balance between fatty pork mince and sweet juicy prawns.
As it's so technical, I haven't actually had a decent bowl of wonton noodles overseas. This cook came about as I saw some yellow chives in an Asian supermarket recently. They are actually green chives but grown without access to sunlight so it has a much milder and sweeter flavour and one of the key ingredients in wonton noodle soup. As it wasn't a planned cook, I'm actually missing some of the key ingredients to make it. I have substituted it with what I have on hand and it was still so satisfying. It's no match to the fully authentic ones but better than anything I can find in Melbourne so I'm happy. What's your childhood comfort food growing up?
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 3 hours*
Serves: 4
* Most time is spent on cooking the soup base. The longer you can afford to simmer it on low heat, the better the flavour. It's also best if you leave it overnight and continue the simmering the next day.
Ingredients
Wonton Soup
- 2 chicken carcasses*
- 2 small dried cuttle fish
- 1 tbsp dried shrimp
- 1 tbsp dried scallops
- 6 tbsp bonito dashi
- 2 tbsp rock sugar
- salt
Wonton Filling
- 250g minced pork
- 250g whole king prawns sliced into half length ways
- 2 tbsp soya sauce
- 2 tbsp bonito dashi
- 1 tsp corn starch
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
Other
- 1 small packet of wonton wrappers
- 1 large bunch of Chinese lettuce washed and torn up roughly
- 1 small bunch of yellow chives
- 4 Cantonese style egg noodles (these are the thin types)
* Authentic recipe uses pork bone, but I used chicken carcasses instead as I feel like a lighter broth. Feel free to replace it with pork for a richer flavour.
Method
1. Start with making the stock. Add the chicken carcasses with some water in a deep pot and bring it to boil. Pour out the liquid once it boils. This removes the blood and impurities a little. Add enough hot water to the pot to just cover the chicken carcasses, add the dried cuttle fish, dried shrimp and dried scallops and simmer over low heat for over 3 hours. Add the bonito dashi and rock sugar 20 minutes before it's ready. Season to taste.
2. Make the wonton filling by adding the pork mince, prawn, egg, corn starch, soya sauce, bonito dashi, sugar and white pepper to a bowl. Mix well to combine. It's best to mix the filling in one direction only until it's creamy. Mixing it in both direction would cause the liquid to split from the meat/prawn.
3. Make the wonton noodles by placing 2/3 tsp of the filling in the middle of the wrapper. Rub water or egg along the edges of the wrapper. Fold it over diagonally into a triangle
and seal all the edges well by pressing it firmly together. Hold the 2 pointy ends of the triangle, twist it around and stick it together with some water.
4. Cook the noodles by adding it to a boiling pot of water. Do one noodle at a time, loosen it up before you drop it in and cook it on high heat for 30 seconds. Take it out and rinse it under cold water to make sure it's 'bouncy'. Place it in bowls ready to serve.
5. Cook the wontons in hot water in batches, bring it to boil. Add 1/4 cup of cold water each time it boils and do so 3 times. This will ensure that the meat inside is cooked well while the wrapper on the outside is not overcooked. Take it out and place it into the bowl once it's ready.
6. Add 1 tsp of salt and some oil in the hot water and blanch the chinese lettuce in boiling water for 30 seconds. Drain it well and place it into the bowls.
7. Add the yellow chives to the bowl, bring the stock to boil and ladle it into each bowl. Enjoy while it's hot!