.won ton soup.

We had company over for dinner tonight. I made a huge Chinese feast complete with won ton soup, crab rangoon, bbq pork, almond breaded chicken, and lo mein. So delicious. We were all completely stuffed by the end of the meal.
This recipe was one of my mom's. It was one she got when she took Chinese cooking classes when I was a kid. I grew up making this and all the various dishes she made. The wonton filling can be made up the night before and held overnight in the fridge. It's actually a very easy soup to make. The most time consuming part is filling and forming the won tons.

FILLING:



In a bowl, smoosh together:
1/2 c. ground pork
2 Tbsp chopped water chestnuts
2 Tbsp chopped bamboo shoots
2 Tbsp chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp rice wine
1 tsp cornstarch

To make easy work of the chopping, use a food chopper. My Pampered Chef food chopper rocks at this!




You're going to need a package of won ton wraps.

Put a teaspoon sized ball of filling in the middle of the wonton wrapper.

Dip your finger in a bowl of egg white and rub it along the edge. This wets the edge and makes a "glue" to hold everything together.

Fold the wrapper over to make a triangle. Press the edges down with your finger to make sure it's sealed well.


















Bring the two ends together and overlap them. Using a little egg white to seal them in position.

Continue doing this until you've used up all of your pork filling.
If you are a fan of fried wontons, you can make it to this point and then freeze in a well sealed bag.
I made these a couple hours before I actually needed them. I wouldn't make them any earlier than that as they tend to get a little soft from the liquid in the filling.

This is bok choy. It is a cabbage with a very subtle taste. It is a traditional vegetable in won ton soup.

What you want to do is pull off any bad leaves. Wash everything well and then chop it up. Set aside until we need to use it.

Chop up some green onion, slicing on the diagonal.
I chopped up an entire bunch because I needed some extra for the crab rangoon. You could get away using less than what is pictured here. Or, if you are a big green onion enthusiast, you can use a lot more!

In a pot put 6-8 cups chicken stock. I used 4 cups chicken stock, then 2 cups water and 1 packet oriental flavoring from one of my Top Ramen. Normally I would use Won Ton soup mix, but I can't seem to find it here! The Top Ramen seasoning packets are very comparible to the taste. Add a tsp of salt into the broth. Mix everything up and bring to a boil.

Once the broth comes to a boil, add the chopped bok coy, 1/4 cup sliced water chestnuts, and 1/2 cup mushrooms (preferrably baby white ones), cut in half, or sliced (if you're using regular white mushrooms).
Cover, reduce heat to medium. Cook for 15 minutes. Add the won tons and cook for another 15 minutes. Add the green onion just before serving.

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_63gbmgn3g9