Wanton Soup in 20 minutes and 4 Steps

Have you ever been in a Chinese or Thai restaurant, and ordered wanton soup, only to be disappointed by how few wantons you get in your soup? My family used to run a restaurant in Asia, and let me tell you this, restaurants make a bucket full of cash from soup orders. It cost pennies (well, almost) to put together a small bowl they give you, and then they go and charge say, over $2.00-$3.00 per bowl. The other problem with restaurant orders is that they overuse sodium, and for the meat filling, use fatty pork.

So here is a quick way to make lots of wantons for your own homemade soup. Also, remember this is a versatile soup--you can add some buckwheat Japanese soba noodles, some cut up fish balls (both purchased from Asian grocery stores), and spinach or any other vegetable of your own choice, and presto, you have a great lunch or even dinner.

Ingredients:
Wanton wrappers (bought from Asian or mainstream grocery stores; avoid picking up a packet that is almost frozen solid)
1/2 lb of ground chicken (if you must use ground pork, then use 1/2 of this and 1/2 of chicken)
2 1/2 tablespoon Light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon White pepper (use black pepper as substitute if you must, but white pepper has a slight "burn in the mouth" taste that makes the filling taste better)
3/4 cup of chopped scallions
3 cups of homemade stock (or use canned chicken stock)

1. Mix, using clean hands, the ground meat with soy sauce, sugar, white pepper, and 1/2 cup of scallions. Make sure all are mixed thoroughly.
2. Place half a teaspoon of meat filling onto the center of each wrapper. Bring two of the corners of the wrapper together, sealing all edges with some water (use very little, as you are not trying to bathe the wrappers!). You should create a triangle out of each wrapper at this point. Press the edges again a little to remove all trapped air.
3. Now bring the other two remaining corners together, sealing the tips with some water. Press a little on the tips to make sure they do indeed stick together. If you are hard pressed for time, or don't care much about aesthetics, just skip this step and your wantons will taste just as good!
4. Now, with the stock at boiling point, drop the wantons gently into it. Within slightly under 5 minutes, your wanton soup is ready. Garnish with scallions, and if you like, a few drops of sesame oil and soy sauce.

This recipe can make three bowls (3 servings) of about 8-9 wantons in each.

Tips: Do not overcook the wantons. They toughen up if you did that. Remember that they continue to cook even after you have removed them from the heat. Also, you can freeze the wantons per se for up to one week. They can go straight from the freezer to the boiling stock without any thawing necessary.

Finally, if you are using this soup as the basis for a hearty meal, i.e. adding noodles, veggies, and so on, then do not cook all the latter in the same pot that holds the wanton. Cook the other ingredients separately; otherwise, your wanton will be overcooked.

Prep time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 5 minutes
ESTIMATED CALORIES OF 1 BOWl (8-9 WANTONS): 200 CALORIES