Chinese · Lunch

Wonton Noodle Soup

Prawn and pork wontons in a clear, dried-flounder broth with springy thin egg noodles. Cantonese, and the noodles go in last so they never sit in the soup long enough to soften.

55 min total Serves 4 servings Medium
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Wonton Noodle Soup

Photograph credit: Gfp-noodle-soup-with-shrimp-dumplings by Yinan Chen · Public Domain · Wikimedia Commons

Wonton Noodle Soup, in preparation
Wonton Noodle Soup, in preparation

Photograph credit: SZ 深圳 Shenzhen 福田 Futian 水圍村 Shui Wai Cun 沙縣小吃 ShaXian Snacks Noodle Shop night 云吞… by LAAePSts Lusnsaz WHA · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

Wonton Noodle Soup, Step by Step

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  1. Toast the dried flounder or shrimp in a dry pan for 2 minutes, then simmer it in the stock with the ginger for 25 minutes. Strain and season with the soy and sugar.

  2. Mix the prawns, pork, ginger, spring onions, soy, wine, sesame oil, cornflour and white pepper, stirring in one direction for 2 minutes until sticky.

  3. Put a teaspoon of filling in the centre of a wrapper, wet the edge, and gather it up loosely around the filling so the top ruffles. Do not squeeze the air out.

  4. Repeat with the rest, keeping the finished wontons under a cloth.

  5. Boil the noodles for 45 to 60 seconds only, then drain and plunge into cold water. Drain again thoroughly.

  6. Poach the wontons in a separate pan of simmering water for 3 to 4 minutes until they float and the wrappers turn translucent.

  7. Blanch the greens in the same water for 30 seconds.

  8. Divide the noodles between deep bowls, add the wontons and greens, and ladle the hot broth over.

  9. Finish with spring onions and a heavy grind of white pepper.

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Notes for Getting It Right

  • Cook the noodles separately and shock them. Boiling them in the broth ruins both.
  • Wrap loosely. A tightly packed wonton is a dumpling; the ruffled tail is the point.
  • Dried flounder is the authentic Cantonese backbone of the broth and is worth hunting down.

If You're Missing Something

  • Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
  • If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.

What Goes With Wonton Noodle Soup

  • Chilli oil and Chinkiang vinegar at the table
  • Blanched greens with oyster sauce
  • Hot tea

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Stir-Fried Water Spinach, Vegan Fried Rice.

Keeping and Reheating

Uncooked wontons freeze 2 months on a tray, then bagged; poach from frozen. Broth keeps 4 days.

Wonton Noodle Soup Nutrition

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.

First published ; last changed .