I usually have all the time in the world during most of my weekends to indulge in doing things that I love. This weekend I decided to give it a try to cook some wonton soup, from scratch. And ‘from scratch’ I mean including making the wonton skin, and cooking up some chicken stock to come with the wontons.

It was actually pretty easy with the kneading and preparing the dough, at least easier than I had in mind, although it is much less work and my kitchen would be less messy if I’d buy some ready made frozen wonton skin.

However I usually managed to finish up only one quarter of the quantity because a package of ready made wonton skin is usually too much for both of us to finish them in one go. Even when I wrap the leftover up in a damp cloth and store them in the fridge, they can’t last that long either. So eventually the rest of them will start to rot after a few days.

I adapted the recipe for Superior Wonton Soup from Authentic Recipes from Malaysia by Wendy Hutton. The wonton do taste heavenly. Although I think I made the wonton skin a tad too thick, it turns out to be more like some Chinese style ravioli . Nevertheless it was still edible. Hey, it’s really not bad for me as this is my first try .

I love the basic chicken stock recommended by the book. It does taste like some very authentic Chinese style chicken stock, packed with the goodness of ikan bilis (anchovies), chicken bones, dried scallops, ginger and garlic. I didn’t need to add any extra Maggi i.e. MSG to taste.

The best thing is, we finished all the wontons that evening without any leftover from the wontons skin or the soup! I must make them again .

Here’s my adaptation from the version that you can find in the book. Makes 15 wontons.

Making Wonton from scratch

Basic Chicken Stock:
200g chicken bone or meat (I used chicken bones and the meat I used for the filling)
1/2 cup of ikan bilis or baby anchovies
3 cloves of garlic
1cm of ginger, peeled and bruised
1/2 tsp of white pepper
2l of water

Wonton wrappers:
270g flour
125ml water
1 egg

Filling:
This is really up to you how you like your wontons. I put in some:
150g of minced chicken meat
200g of prawns, minced
4 Chinese mushrooms
5 Surimi sticks (crab meat), minced
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp of soy sauce
1 tsp of oyster sauce
a little of chopped ginger
1/2 tsp sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste

Now here’s where all the fun begins:
1. Put all the ingredients for the chicken stock in a pot and bring them to a boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer for about 1hr.
2. Make the wonton wrappers by kneading the flour, water and egg for 10mins and set aside for 15mins. Pinch a tablespoon of the dough and roll out the dough into a circle of about 9cm and place it on a dry plate. Repeat for each wrapper.
3. For the filling, mix all the ingredients together well.
4. Place the filling in the middle of the wrapper and fold it like a pouch.
5. Bring the stock into a boil again and add the wonton and simmer for about 3-5mins until they rise to the surface.
6. Throw in some lettuce leaves and your wontons are ready to be served!

Guten appetit !