Wonton Soup
This isn’t a traditional wonton soup. I suppose a vegan wonton soup wouldn’t really be considered traditional anyway, but I really took some liberty with the recipe. The wontons are stuffed with one of my favorite greens, Chinese broccoli, and chopped seitan. I tossed the filling in a chili-mustard sauce for a salty, spicy kick. The slight bitterness of the Chinese broccoli really balances the piquant heat of the dressing, creating a really yummy dumpling.
I wanted the wontons to be the star here, so I made a very light ginger-soy broth to float them in. I only covered the wontons about half-way with the soup base, so really, this isn’t so much a soup as fresh dumplings lightly dressed with an aromatic broth. In fact, the broth is quite plain on its own, but it works very nicely with the flavorful dumplings.
Chinese broccoli is fantastic, and if you’ve never had it, I wholly recommend a search of your nearest Asian grocer to find some. It’s a vegetable chimera of all of my favorite things; the florets of broccoli rabe, the stems of asparagus, and leaves like tender collard greens. It has a mild flavor with a sweet and slightly bitter bite, and it’s perfect for stir-fries or any other hight heat/quick cooking method. It’s also quite good for you, and its complex (but not overwhelming) flavor is a nice change of pace from regular broccoli or simple spinach.
Folding wontons isn’t hard, so as long as you can find the wonton skins, you’ll be good to go. The brand I used here is called Twin Marquis, and I know they make both vegan and non-vegan wonton skins and gyoza wrappers. Look for the white (not yellow) square wrappers. The round ones are gyoza skins, much better for pot stickers; even though they’re similar, they’re a good deal thicker than the wonton skins. Either way, check the label for eggs.
If you have leftover wonton skins, you can make extra wontons and freeze them in one layer on a cookie sheet, then transfer to a freezer bag for long-term storage. Just drop them directly into boiling water when you’re ready to cook them. You can also wrap the skins up tightly and store them in a fridge for a day or two. Fill them with anything you like (spinach and tofutti cream cheese? Tempeh sausage?), fold in half and seal shut. Pan fry them in 1-2″ of oil until cripsy and golden brown on both sides. It’s a wonderfully tasty and quick appetizer or snack.
Chinese Broccoli Wontons in a Light Ginger-Soy Broth
Serves Four
16 Wonton Skins
Filling
1 Tbs Oil
1-2 tsp Fresh Ginger, minced
1 Cup Chinese Broccoli, thinly sliced
3/4 Cup Seitan, chopped fine
1/2 tsp Hot Chili Sauce, more if desired (like Sriracha)
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
1 tsp Tamari or Soy Sauce
Ginger-Soy Broth
4 Cups Water
5-6 Fresh Ginger Slices
1 Tbs Mirin
2 Tbs Tamari (or soy sauce)
1 1/2 tsp Sugar
2 tsp Rice Vinegar
1/2 tsp Salt, plus more to taste
1/4 Cup Chinese Broccoli Leaves, packed (sub: spinach or collards)
Filling: Begin by chopping the Chinese broccoli very thinly with a sharp knife, from the base of the stem up towards the leaves (just like chopping scallions). Heat a large pan with oil and add the ginger. Once the ginger becomes fragrant, add the broccoli and seitan, stirring well and cooking until the broccoli is bright green and tender-crisp.
Transfer the broccoli-seitan mixture to a small bowl and toss with the remaining ingredients. Taste and adjust to your liking. Set aside while you make the broth.
Broth: Heat all of the broth ingredients together except the greens in a small sauce pan, until sugar and salt is dissolved and the ginger has had time to infuse into the broth. Taste and add more salt if desired, but remember this is a mild broth that is only meant to be a complement to the wontons. Once the broth has begin to simmer, turn off heat and toss in greens. Cover and set aside.
Fill the wontons: Place 1-2 tsp of filling in the center of the wonton. Wet the edges of the wrapper with water (a finger dipped in water works great) and seal into a trianlge, removing as much air as possible from the dumpling. Make sure edges are secured.
Set the triangle in front of you, pointing up. Wet one of the bottom corners. Hold the corners, one between each thumb and forefinger. Begin to bend the wrapper, as if you were forcing it into a horseshoe shape. Don’t change your grip, and resist the urge to fold the corners over. Bring the two ends together, crossing them slightly, and press to seal. Going from the triangle shape to a completed wonton is one fluid motion.
Your dumpling should look like a fun little fish-boat-hat. Like this:
You can now freeze your dumplings, or cook them right away.
To prepare the soup: Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Re-heat your broth to steaming, if necessary. Gently lower the wontons into the boiling water and cook until they become translucent, about 2-3 minutes if the wontons aren’t frozen, longer if they are. Remove them from the water with a spider (or other slotted spoon device) and place them into the hot broth.
Take care to remove and discard any dumplings that have opened up during cooking. If they open, water gets inside, washes all the flavor away, and you’ll be sad if you serve it or eat it. It will taste like watery mush, and I promise you won’t be happy about it.
Ladle 3-4 wontons into a bowl and add a small amount of broth, enough to half-way cover the wontons. Make sure to get some greens in there, too. Serve immediately.
Mmmmmm!!! Looks beautiful and delicious, like all your food!
Where did you come from? I just stumbled upon your website looking for recipes for vegan cupcakes (I just ordered ‘Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World’ but it didn’t arrive yet) and am utterly bowled over. If you are not famous yet you will be very soon. You have that Martha Stewarty thing where everything you do is perfect and completely elegant. If I win the lottery I will invest in whatever endeavor you want to pursue as you are going to be a very huge succcess someday!
these look beautiful and tasty!
Ok, normal people can’t cook like this!! When are you going to start thinking about opening a restaurant?
I need to stop reading your blog right after lunch, because all the pretty food makes me sad that I’ve just had a peanut butter sandwich instead of whatever mouthwatering food is pictured!
I stumbled onto here via a link on a friend’s blog. All your dishes look so yummy and I cannot get over the quality of your photographs.
OMG that sounds so freakin good. Want to come cook for me tonight??
yum! chinese broccoli has been my favourite vegetable ever since i tried your pad see ew…
That looks really great!
these look great. and i like how you played around to make a recipe all your own
beautiful!
I have everything for this (except the chinese broccoli… I might use regular or rabe?). I think I have to make it!
Your’re a great inspiration to me with this site, I never stop admiring your skills with photography and your splendig recipes. The quality of your cooking is honour to all vegans who enjoy beautiful, ethic meals. These recipes hopefully insipire all sorts of people try something new&green!
Keep up the excellent work!
Gorgeous stuff; so perfectly and beautifully shaped, they seem a shame to eat … almost. I do love the idea of using this recipe as a base, then experimenting with different Asian greens.
yumm…..that looks so wonderful. The pictures are amazing.
adorable! so now when I come off my gyoza trip, I know what to make next :)
Oh my. Your photos and food are amazing.
I have tried (and failed ever so badly) to make wontons on a couple of occasions. I am going to follow your recipe and see what happens.
Wonderful blog.
That looks so beautiful and your blogging is lovely. Thank you for sharing your talents :)
those are the prettiest wontons i’ve ever seen in my life.
only the pure of heart can make good soup
mmmm…..
This looks fabulous. Occasionally, I think that I’d like some wontons, but being vegetarian for over 30 years, it is just a memory. Now I can have them again. I can’t wait to try it. I’ve just found your site. Everything looks amazing.
gorgeous post!
perfect timing! i just bought wonton skins with no real idea what i was going to do with them! i can’t wait to try this out.
I’ve been seeking a great vegan wonton soup recipe for some time now,and well isn’t today just my lucky day!? I can’t wait to give this a whirl. Really lovin’ your blog, recipes, everything. It’s fabulous!
This is absolutely beautiful, Lolo. You are an amazing cook, I noticed. I read all your posts and drool over the pictures. Please never stop posting. I have blog rolled you, hope you do not mind.
may i ask what brand of wonton skins you used and where you found them? i have only been able to find them made with eggs. i’ve tried using rice paper wraps before, but they’re just not the same, and i don’t like working with them.
looks good, but where did you find pre-made wonton skins that are in fact vegan?
ive been checking for years with no luck, please let us in on your secret!
Vegan pre-made wonton skins can be found at Asian supermarkets, a couple of brands are Myojo and Dynasty.
Very interesting use of the chinese broccoli!
all your photos make your dishes look very yummy indeed, 2 thumbs out for the lovely shots and of course the dishes are quite good, I have tried one or two and it was lovely.. I’m going to try this wonton soup next..
:D
Oh, yum! I stumbled across your blog recently and I adore your pictures, but I especially love this recipe. I’m a huge fan of the typical starters that come with Chinese food in the US or Europe, fried and delicious as they are, but even when they’re listed as “vegetable” I’m afraid to order because you never know when some fish sauce might be snuck in. This is a great way around that dilema, thanks!
Wow! You’re wontons looks so delicate and delicious – and I love your before, during and after shots!
so delicious!! and I had been craving a wonton soup that I could actually eat. I added some chopped oyster mushrooms to the broth, and it was good. I will definitely make this again, and soon!
I can’t wait to try your soup this week. It looks so good! Thanks for posting the recipe.
I’m not an experienced cook. I tried this recipe but because of the unavailability of some of the ingredients, I was forced to substitute. I used apple cider vinegar instead of rice vinegar; shiitake mushroom instead of seitan; ordinary broccoli leaves instead of the chinese variety.
I had a difficult time forming the fish-shaped dumplings. I’m always tearing the wrap. Maybe I used too much water to seal the edges.
The end result tasted like a chinese hot and sour soup.
I took off the dumplings that opened in the steaming soup and put these in the same broth on another bowl with an added cornstarch to make a thick hot and sour soup.
Lolo, this was delicious! However, I did change it up a bit…
I used mushrooms instead of Seitan because I have only tried it in restaurants and never experimented with it at home, it was soooo good. And no one in SF seems to sell the vegan wonton wrappers you recommended (argh, I called at least 10 natural food stores!) so I made a batch from scratch, also very good. I have missed wonton soup for years now and my partner and I agree that this is by far the best wonton soup EVER! Thank you!
You have a wonderful blog. :o)
Oh! I also added bok choy to the broth, yum!
Amazing. My eight-year-old daughter and I made the wontons for dinner last night. They were delicious! Thank you.
thanks for receipe good work. if you open your restaurant you be in graet busieness
I’v made these twice now and each time they’ve turned out amazing. These are the best wontons I’ve had in a very long time. Thank you for posting!
These are the best wontons! I’ve made them twice now. The first time I used broccoli rabe because I couldn’t find the Chinese version and they were great. The second time I used regular broccoli florets cut very small and a bit of spinach and they were awesome again. Thank you for posting!
Why don’t I just keep posting the same thing over and over again on your site? Sheez. Sorry.
I loved it!
I just finished eating this gorgeous meal, I followed every step and it tasted like heaven!
Great recipe
Very good broth, and I liked the filling of the wontons. Green onions would be great addition to the broth!
Are these pictures yours? Are they under copyright?
I was at a vegan resturant and they had wonton soup, and they had your picture.
Soup tasted completely different though. Ick. :/
Sure! It was Veggie Heaven in Denville, NJ. They had your picture that was at the top. It was in the menu.
Good luck. >_<