Trial Run: Wonton Soup

Oh man.  Oh man oh man oh man.

We're learning about tabemono (food) in Japanese class.

There's something about Asian food that's just so... indescribable.  I've enjoyed a lot of Japanese and Chinese food (and some spicy chicken curry--kudos, India), and it's pretty evident that a great deal of time and thought is put into Asian cuisine.  Flavors, textures, and appearance all come together in a wordlessly wonderful blend that melts in your mouth.

We formally started our Japanese cuisine unit in Level III Japanese yesterday, and for a good hour and a half after that, I could.  Not.  Stop.  Thinking.  About.  Wontons.  Yes, I know they're native to China, but for some reason, I was hankerin' for wontons.  I came home intending to make some wonton soup, but alas, everyone opted to go out for Chinese instead (which I was not totally unhappy with).

TODAY, however, everyone else was having fish for dinner, and I am no fan of seafood.  So I seized the opportunity and tried my hand at beef wonton soup.

The results?

Personally, I think I did alright!

However, there was one major problem with it.

See, I used four cubes of beef bouillon in about four cups of water for the broth (the ratio is on the label, and I would have gone for said ratio anyway).  At first, there was a decent amount of broth--I was really only cooking for myself, but I increased the broth in case someone else wanted some.  Then I added my veggies (carrots, green peppers, eggplant, mushrooms) and let 'em boil for quite some time while I prepared this** wonton wrapper recipe, which worked REALLY well!  Anyway, by the time I had stuffed, wrapped, and thrown my wontons into the soup, most of the water had evaporated from the pot.  I now had significantly less water and a whole lot of super-concentrated broth.

Which was a little too strong and ridiculously high in sodium, I might add.

So I shared the wontons with my family, who immediately wanted wonton soup for dinner tomorrow!  But I set the broth (and the broth-soaked vegetables) aside and watered it down.  Luckily, there were only four wontons and I only actually had about one and a half, to watch the sodium.  Not interested in high blood pressure.

So here's what I'm thinking.

Tomorrow, I'm going to make a full batch of wonton soup for dinner.  But I'm going to greatly adjust the ratio of broth to water, and I'll half to keep the pot really well sealed while it boils.  I'm pretty sure my problem was that the lid had a bit of a gap in the side that was letting out steam as it cooked, so hopefully those fixes will allow it to retain the water.  I'm open to any suggestions you guys have about this!!

I'll post the full recipe tomorrow.  I'm thinking about doing rice on the side, though I know my history with rice is... less than stellar.

**NOTE: the original yield of the wonton wrapper recipe is 72, count 'em, 72 wrappers.  I reduced the recipe.  So if you're planning on using it, just keep that in mind.  I almost didn't see it!!

ECHO out.