After our trip to Hong Kong, we’ve been missing Cantonese wonton noodle soup. It is such a common dish there, and very cheap. Just like Starbucks in the US. Walk along any street in central Hong Kong, and you’ll find a small diner serving this the hearty soup on practically every block.
The traditional way of crafting a bowl of Cantonese wonton noodles is a form of art. The wonton wrappers and the noodles are made fresh, from flour and eggs. The wontons are filled with fresh shrimp, plus a touch of pork to enhance the flavor. The soup consists of homemade pork stock plus dried fish and shrimp. It requires hours of slow cooking, until the color turns a translucent light amber color. The finished broth is very mild in flavor, yet you can smell a refreshing sea breeze with each sip of the soup. It’s so lovely, but not really practical for the home cook. I don’t know about you, but I don’t usually have ten hours to make everything from scratch.
I simplified the whole process, to make it possible to enjoy this delicacy at home. The results stay true to the authentic flavor.
Cantonese wonton noodle soup, the easy way
Here, we used store-bought Hong Kong style wonton wrappers and wonton noodles. You can see the types used in the image below. These wrappers and noodles are made from eggs and wheat. The wrappers are the super thin type. So you only need a tiny bit of filling in each wonton to get the best texture. The noodles are as thin as angel hair pasta, yet they have a very chewy texture. These are the essentials, if you want the most authentic flavor and texture. Other types of wrappers and noodles will work too, but without the beautiful golden color. And the texture will be slightly different.
As for the soup, we used chicken stock with dried shrimp to mimic the flavor. This way, we can reduce the cooking time to 5 minutes, instead of 5 hours. If you have homemade chicken stock, perfect! If you don’t, simply use boxed stock. To add a mild umami, we used rehydrated dried shrimp, a touch of soy sauce, and some sesame oil. If you don’t have dried shrimp, you can experiment with fish sauce and oyster sauce to create the soup base. Just remember, add a small amount at a time to strike a balance, so no single ingredient will dominate the soup.
To create perfect Cantonese style wontons, try to use the freshest shrimp you can get. The other key is to add ground pork with at least 20% fat content. We use pork as an enhancer in the filling, so you won’t even notice it in the end. It “glues” the shrimp together and adds richness to the filling. By using minimal seasoning, we can bring out the flavor of the shrimp without overpowering it. Wrapping the wontons is the most time consuming part. If you make bigger wontons, it will save you a bit of time. What I usually do is make the wontons on the weekend, when I can sit down and work on them slowly while watching a TV show. You will find the process much more enjoyable, rather than feeling like a chore. Then I freeze the wontons. Every time I crave a bowl of wonton noodle soup, it only takes me 10 minutes to get the broth heated up and the wonton noodles cooked.
If you’ve never wrapped wontons before, do not be intimidated! There are many ways to do it. Watch the videos below to find the shape you like the most 🙂
Need more delicious ideas? Check out my wonton soup recipe! Do you like my recipes? Sign up our weekly newsletter to get the latest updates delivered to your inbox and a FREE e-cookbook that contains my top 30 most popular recipes!
