Finishing Your Soup

For the first part of this soup click here: Wonton Soup

Vegetable broth is a variable beast. If you’ve been here before, you’ll know that I only recommend Swanson’s pre-made broth. I’ve tried others, and they are horrible. The broth is what ruined my first attempt at wonton soup, suffusing everything with the taste of old vegetables. Blech! Vegetable stock, unlike chicken broth, does not get better with time. 30 to 40 minutes tops, and it’s done. Otherwise it tastes like, you guessed it, old vegetables that have been sitting around for hours, which is what they are. So, in order to make a successful wonton soup, I knew I had to make my own wontons and my own stock. And this time, it was great! This is, unfortunately, not a great soup for freezing, but the filling and the wrappers can be frozen, as can the stock, so you can thaw them out and put it all together again!

Vegetable Broth

2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
2 medium onions, quartered
1 daikon radish, roughly chopped
1 bunch scallions, roughly chopped
4 dried shitake mushrooms
Handful of parsley
3 garlic cloves peeled
2 bay leaves
20 peppercorns
2 tablespoons salt

Place all ingredients in a large pot with 3 quarts of water (12 cups) and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes. Strain out the vegetables.

Finishing Your Soup

8 cups baby Bok Choy, chopped
1 carrot sliced
2 green onions sliced

Steam bok choy in a pot with three cups of stock. Remove bok choy and add carrots. Cook until tender. Remove carrots and add wontons. Cover wontons with stock. Boil wontons gently until the skins look wrinkled, about five minutes depending on the thickness of your wrapper. Add salt to taste, 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 1 tablespoon rice wine to the broth. Add bok choy, green onions, and carrots to the soup. Add more broth if necessary. Stir gently, drizzle with spicy sesame oil, and serve immediately.