Wonton Soup (Mi Hoanh Thanh)

WONTON SOUP (Mi Hoanh Thanh)

My kids love eating wonton..by itself or in soups. For the past couple of weeks they been eating it by itself just dip in a ponzo sauce …so today I wanted to make it as a MEAL and not just an appetizer or something for them to snack on. I used this noodle that I got from the Asian market and added the char sui pork with lots of bean sprouts and veggies. I LOVE this broth because its similar to Hu Tieu Broth. Because in the broth you use pork bones, dried shrimp, and dried squid. Sometimes, I double up on my broth and use it for 2 different MEALS.

Cook according to package…it say to dip in for 20 seconds..DON’T over cook because it will be very mushy. Remember to rinse under cold water.

SHOPPING list:
1 pack of wonton noodles (freezer section at Asian Market)
1 pack of pork or shrimp potsticker/wonton. If you can’t make your own..you can buy at any grocery store–steam the potsticker or pan fried them according to package…set aside. Trader Joes sell some great ones in the freezer sections..they have pork and chicken.

Garnish:
Fried Shallots
Sliced Green Onions
Thinly sliced purple onion
Jalapeno
Sate or Chili
Lemon
Chopped Cilantro
Basil

CHAR SUI PORK:
3 Tablespoon of Chinese/Vietnamese char sui BBQ (come from package)
2 pounds of pork belly
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon soy sauce

In a gallon size ziploc bag…pour in the char sui powder, garlic powder, pepper, and soy sauce…marinate the pork for 2hrs or overnight in the refrigerator. Next, in a baking dish….take out the marinate pork and empty the sauce marinate in the baking dish and cover with foil wrap. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes then uncover and bake for another 15 minutes. Let the pork rest then sliced into thin pieces.

Making the BROTH:
5 liters water
3 lbs of pork bones
1 cup dried shrimp (soak in water for about 15-30 minutes, drain and rinse)
1 small squid (soak in water for about 15-30 minutes, drain and rinse)
1 large onion
1 large piece (half of your palm) rock sugar
2 Tablespoon salt
2 Tablespoon chicken powder
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
5 pieces of daikon (cut into 1in pieces)

Instruction:
In a large POT, fill with enough water to cover the pork bones and cook for about 10 minutes. Pour the content of the pot into a colander and rinse the bone with cold water. If you are gonna reuse the POT make sure you wash the pot really well. Next, you add the pork bones back into the pot and fill the pot with water (5 liters). Add in the onion, rock sugar, salt, chicken powder, garlic power, daikon, dried shrimp and the squid. Cook for about 2 to 2.5 hours on medium low heat. Make sure to skim the surface every once in awhile…to keep the broth clear.

Next, assemble the SOUP BOWL. Add about 1 cup of the wonton noodle and 4 pieces of wonton/potsticker. Ladle in the broth then top with some thinly sliced char sui bbq pork, bean sprouts, fried shallots, green onions, chopped cilantro, thinly sliced purple onion, jalapeno, etc.

***This soup is so versatile because you can add shrimp, cuttlefish balls, ground pork meat…basically anything you like.

**If you want the broth to be a DEEPER wonton flavor…you can use this Hoanh Thanh (Wonton Base)