Veggie Wonton Soup

While doing our recent REVIEW: Man Pans Stir Fry Wok & Steamer Set, I made some of this fabulous, veggie-friendly soup. I also promised to share the recipe. Since I never lie (well, almost never ;)) here it is! Oh, and by the way, this gets rave reviews from the Cavewoman, a lifelong vegetarian, as well as from the Cavekids and me, lifelong carnetarians! Though, as you’ll see, this is easily adjusted to satisfy the meat-only crowd.

INGREDIENTS

6 Cups Vegetable Broth
1 1/2 Cups Sliced Mushrooms (Baby Bella or Shitake)
10 Ounces Firm Tofu
8 Ounces Water Chestnuts
5 Green Onions
12 Wonton Wrappers
1/4 Teaspoon Sesame Oil or Chili Sesame Oil
1-2 Tablespoons Corn Starch
Salt & Pepper to taste

RECIPE

Chop the green onions, water chestnuts, and tofu into small bite sized pieces. Then, take about 1/5 of each ingredient and chop that portion more finely for use inside the wontons. Set aside.

Thinly slice mushrooms. Set aside.

Set up a work station with the wrappers; a glass of cool water; a clean, dry plate to make the wontons; a plate covered lightly in corn starch; and the finely chopped ingredients.

To make the wontons, put a single wrapper in the center of the clean plate. Place an appropriate amount of each ingredient onto the wrapper (don’t overstuff the wrapper or it will tear when you take the next steps). With a slightly wet finger, moisten all for edges of the wrapper. Fold one corner of the wrapper up to it’s opposite corner, and firmly seal all edges together. Place the completed wontons on the corn starch plate, taking care not to lay them on top of each other to prevent them from sticking together.
NOTE #1: If you have any leftover wonton “filling”, just save it and throw it into the soup at the appropriate time.

Place broth into properly sized sauce pan or wok and bring to a boil. While many recipes call for you to boil your wontons, I find that doing so tends to create very soft wontons that readily fall apart. To combat this, I like to steam them before adding them to the soup. It should only take 5-8 minutes to fully steam the wontons.
NOTE #2: By using this Man Pans Stir Fry Wok and Steamer Set, I am able to steam the wontons with the boiling veggie stock. Not only is this convenient and eco-friendly, I think it also adds to the flavor of the wontons.

When wontons are fully steamed, remove the steamer insert and add the tofu, mushrooms, and water chestnuts. Return to boil for another 3-5 minutes.

Reduce flame, add green onions and sesame oil. Gently add wontons. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir gingerly. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
NOTE #3: If you are adverse to any kind of spiciness, just go with the plain variety of sesame oil. But, if you like just a hint of tang, go for the “chili” version. It won’t make it very spicy at all, but it will add a nice essence.

Serve in bowls along with any of your other Asian favorites. It also makes a fine main course, too.
HINT: This soup is easily transformed into a carnivore version by using the filling from our Lamb Wontons instead. Just be sure not to fry them, as described in the recipe. Also, you may have to steam them for a few more minutes to make sure they are cooked enough. Add some shrimp or chicken chunks to the initial broth boil and you’ll have a delicious meat-lovers rendition of this soup.

If you’d like to win one of these Man Pans Stir Fry Wok and Steamer Sets, or even an entire set of their pans, be sure to enter our Want Pans? Giveaway. Hurry, though, because the contest ends 12/15/2010.
EDIT: THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!

Prep Time = 40 minutes
Cook Time = 20 minutes
Serves 6

©2010 Caution: Caveman Cooking/UHearMe, Inc. All rights reserved. This recipe originally appeared on the Caution: Caveman Cooking blog at http://cavemancooking.net authored by Caveman. This recipe may be shared and reprinted as long as this entire copyright message accompanies it.