Thai WonTon Soup (with homemade Apple-Ginger Broth)

This is a terrific, fun and very forgiving recipe.  I came up with it this fall for my October soup party thinking of the wonderful butternut squash soup I would have at my favorite Chinese restaurant in Cleveland, Sun Luck Gardens.  The important broth ingredients are the onion, ginger, apple, soy bean paste and wontons.  If you have access and familiarity to lemongrass, you can use that instead of lime.  The important technique is to continuously taste the broth to insure a balance of salty, sweet, hot and sour. Everything else is a party-in-your mouth bonus.  Although there are many steps, it really is not a complicated recipe.  Kids of all ages have a great time helping make the wontons.

DRIED MUSHROOMS
You can get interesting dried mushrooms today, even at your neighborhood grocery.  Buy a small pack and cover them in warm water to rehydrate.  Set them aside until you are ready to make the final soup.

THE APPLE GINGER BROTH
1-2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 white onion, roughly chopped to 1" pieces
5 stalks celery, roughly chopped (I usually use tired-old celery for this)
4-5 inches of fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped in largish-pieces
1 1/2 apples (I like gala, but you want a sweeter apple here) quartered
1 1/2 T black soy sauce (it's very thick and DO NOT USE regular soy sauce)
1 1/2 T soy bean paste
1 1/2 T rice wine or cider vinegar
1/2 bunch parsley, stems and all
1/2 cup basil leaves, whole
1 lime quartered
1 t turbinado or honey
1 pinch of salt
water
pinch of ground cayenne pepper

Heat olive oil on medium low in a large dutch oven or stock pot.  Add the chopped onions and celery at any time.  In order to wilt the vegetables, add a small pinch of salt and saute about 5 minutes, occasionally stirring.  Now, put in the ginger and apples and saute for a couple of minutes.  Pour in just enough water to cover the vegetables and bring to a simmer.  Add the black soy sauce (you can find this at any Asian Market), soy paste and allow to simmer for 5 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients. Now add the rest of the ingredients.  Add a bit more water (perhaps doubling the volume) and bring to a boil.  As the mixture heats, taste it frequently for flavor balance as it heats to ensure it isn't too salty, sour or sweet. Remedies:

• Too salty: add more apple, cider vinegar, and water
• Too sweet: add a bit more soy sauce, perhaps more cayenne
• Too sour: add more apple and maybe a small pinch of sugar

Remember that is important to ensure the taste is balanced as you like it before it comes to a boil.  Allow the broth to simmer for about 45 minutes and add water if you feel it is getting too strong.   Turn the heat off and cool the broth to room temperature.  Strain through a cheesecloth or tea towel into a container (I lay my towel across a colander and have a second stock pot into which I strain it).

THE WONTONS

1/2 pack of wonton wrappers (usually found in the dairy case of your grocer near the tofu)

2 cups of minced stuffing (butternut squash, white button mushrooms, shrimp, tofu, whatever suits you)

1/4 -1/3 cup red curry paste

1/4-1/3 cup coconut milk

1 dish of water for brushing on to the wonton wrappers

I find that approximately equal amounts of red curry paste and coconut milk works best for my palate.  Use what you like, here.  Mix thoroughly in a bowl and adjust to your desired sweetness or heat.  Roughly chop your filling on a sturdy cutting board in your most sturdy place in the kitchen.

After roughly chopping, you will mince the filling.  You must use the Namwhan approved Thai method of mincing the filling until it is a pulp.  Grab your best chefs' knife.  With the knife in your dominant hand and your other hand behind your back, bring that knife's sharp edge down hard onto the filling ingredients, whacking it swiftly, hard and continuously until it is completely cut to a pulp.  Remember your Thai grandmother, smile and enjoy: She would tell you, "If you are too weak, you will never get a husband." Take that filling to task with a gleeful look in your eye (and keep that free hand behind your back).  Place the minced filling in a bowl and mix your curry-coconut sauce through it until the minced filling is nicely coated.

Your wonton wrappers should be still in the package and close to room temperature.  Remove half from the pack and set on the cutting board or counter top along with a bowl of warm water, a pastry brush, the filling, and a plate onto which you can set the formed wontons.  Pull one wrapper out and look at it.  It is basically square.  You are going to fold the wonton on the diagonal and seal the filling into the triangle.  So, imagine: you are going to put your filling in one corner of the wonton shell.

With your pastry brush, or your fingers, moisten the edges of the wrapper.  With a teaspoon, drop a blob of filling into the upper right hand corner, inside the moistened edges.  Fold the empty side over the filled side and press the edges together very firmly.  It's okay if you squeeze a little filling out -- no worries -- just clean it up and press it together.  After the triangle is formed, you can press the long corners together to make a little crown.  Bring the points together and press them together firmly.  Set the cute little things aside on a plate.

You may freeze the extra wonton wrappers for later use.

THE SOUP

1 cup sliced button mushrooms

1 bunch of scallions, chopped; chop the dark green ends in 1" lengths discarding rough edges

wontons, filled

dried mushrooms, rehydrated

apple-ginger broth

fresh cilantro leaves

Bring the broth to a rolling boil if it is too concentrated, add water 1 cup at a time until you are happy with the flavor.  You may add the mushrooms at any time.  Once the broth is boiling, place the wontons into the broth one at a time, carefully and rapidly.  Add the scallions and return to a boil.  As the wontons  cook, they will rise to the top of the pot and the broth will return to a rolling boil.  Allow to boil for a couple of minutes and your soup is done.

Top with fresh cilantro leaves and enjoy!