How to Make Won Ton Noodle Soup (鮮蝦雲吞湯麵)—with Step by Step Pictorial

I’m so glad that the temperature is finally getting cooler.  Not only winter clothes can “hide” my body fat a little better, but I can also enjoy my favorite bowl of hot noodle soup without shedding a sweat.    My favorite bowl of noodle soup is the home made Won Ton Noodle Soup (鮮蝦雲吞湯麵).  It’s easier to make than you think.  Another good news is, you can make the Won Ton ahead of time in a large batch because they freeze really well.  You can pull out a few won tons straight from the freezer and get cooking without (and shouldn’t) defrosting them ahead of time.  Let’s get started shall we?  There are just a few main ingredients in this Won Ton Noodle Soup.



First, you’ll need some shrimps, I like to use 31-40 count (which means there are 31 to 40 shrimps in a pound), the texture of this size of shrimp is more bouncy than smaller size ones.  I usually cut them into smaller pieces so they are easier to wrap.  Up next is some ground pork for flavor and as a binding agent.  Also, there are some ready to eat bamboo shoots in chili oil that are already julienned.  Up next,won ton wraps; I’ve tried a few different brands and they are pretty much the same in flavor and quality.  Just make sure to get the thin one for Won Ton and not the thick kind for Chinese dumplings.   I love to serve the won ton noodle soup with Bak Choy, you can use your preferred vegetables.  Last but not least, the chopped green onions.  They are not only for garnish on top, but also add a nice mild oniony flavor to the soup.

Of course, you’ll need noodles for this noodle soup.  The egg noodles shown on the picture below is the authentic fresh egg noodles used in traditional Won Ton Noodle Soup.  They are available in most Asian supermarket in the refrigerator session. Make sure you get this skinny kind, not the wide and flat ones that looks like linguini.  Although the package shown four sessions of noodle, this whole package can easily serves six.  Well, of course, that depends on your appetite as well.



Up next are the marinade ingredients, there are sesame seed oil, Shao Hsing cooking wine, fish sauce, soy sauce, ground white pepper, 1 egg, some corn starch, sugar and kosher salt.  The marinating is simple, just mix everything together with the shrimps, ground pork and bamboo shoots and you’re ready to wrap them up.



Before you start, prepare a lightly floured sheet pan so the wrapped won tons has a place to land.  Also, you’ll need a small bowl of tap water so you can seal the wrappers.  Here goes the step by step instructions as shown in the picture below:

1) Pick up a piece of won won wrap, spoon a heaping teaspoonful of won ton filling onto the center of a piece of won ton wrap.  Make sure you get a little bit of everything, a few pieces of shrimps, some ground pork and bamboo shoots are in the mix.  Dip your finger into the prepared bowl of water and wet all the edges of the won ton wrap. 

2) Fold a corner of the wrap to the opposite side to form a triangle. 

3) Gently press the sides of the wrap to seal the edges. 

4) Pick up the bottom two corners of the filled won ton

5) Wet the tips and press them together. 

6) Place the wrapped won tons onto prepared sheet pan.  Continue to fill won ton wraps until all fillings are used up.



Easy right?  It’s really fun wrapping these little jewels up.  Almost as much fun as eating them, almost.  I can’t wait until my kids are old enough to help out in the wrapping process. Although they already can’t wait to get their hands on them now.



I love spicy food so I usually serve the Won Ton Noodle Soup with some chili oil or chili sauce. The picture below shows one of my favorite chili oil to use.  The English name on the bottle says “hot and spicy sauce”!  hahaha…so helpful, huh?  Anyway, you don’t really need the name as the logo is so distinctive!  Don’t judge, this is a really flavorful chili oil with a nice crunch.  The manufacturer must have toasted the chilies really well before they’re bottled. 



Notice how clear the soup/stock is?  That’s because I cook the won tons and noodles in a separate pot than the stock.  The water used to cook the noodles and won tons would be too starchy and sticky to consume.  So, I never cook the noodle in the stocks directly.  That is an important step to a wonderful bowl of won ton noodle soup.



Since these noodles are fresh egg noodles, they cook up really fast compared to dried noodles.  They are el dente in about 2 to 3 minutes cooking time.  Just like pasta, do not over cook the noodle.  However, the texture of these egg noodles are quite different than Italian pasta.  They are a lot more “bouncy” than pasta, which is a lovely compliment with the won tons.



Yes, I love chili oil in every bite.    Here’s how the won ton looks like when it’s cooked.  The won ton wrap becomes slightly translucent, silky and smooth, so thin that it’s almost invisible.



And below shows the inside of the won ton….the shrimp is naturally sweet, bouncy and flavorful.  There’s a slight crisp from the bamboo shoots.  With a hint of sesame oil and chili oil, every bit is heavenly.  It’s such a heart and stomach warming dish!  With the weather getting colder each day, I know I’ll be enjoying this Won Ton Noodle Soup a lot more often as well.  I hope you’ll try the recipe and let me know how it goes. 



I'm submitting this post to Holiday Recipe Exchange.  Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Pacific Natural Foods.




Won Ton Noodle Soup (鮮蝦雲吞湯麵) Printable Recipe
Makes 54 Won Ton

1 pound Shrimps (31-40 counts), shelled and deveined
1/4 pound ground pork
1 (14 oz) Won Ton Wraps
1/4 cup bamboo shoot, strips
Bak Choy
Green Onions, chopped
A few cups of seafood or chicken stocks
A dash of sesame oil
A pinch of ground white pepper
A package of fresh egg noodles

Marinade Ingredients
1 egg
1 teaspoon Shao Hsing Rice Cooking Wine
1 teaspoon fish sauce
2 teaspoon soy sauce
A pinch of ground white pepper
A dash of sesame seed oil
1/2 teaspoon corn starch
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (more or less adjust to taste)

To Make the Won Ton Fillings:
Cut shrimps into thirds or fourths depending on their size.  In a large mixing bowl, add shrimps, ground pork, bamboo shoots and all marinade ingredients together.  Stir until well combined and marinade is evenly distributed.

Slightly dust a large sheet pan with all purpose flour, set aside.  Fill a small bowl with tap water, set aside.  Spoon a heaping teaspoonful of won ton filling onto the center of a piece of won ton wrap.  Dip finger into prepared water and wet all the edges of the won ton wrap.  Fold a corner of the wrap to the opposite side to form a triangle.  Gently press the sides of the wrap to seal the edges.  Pick up the two corners of the filled won ton, wet the tips and press them together.  Place onto prepared sheet pan.  Continue to fill won ton wraps until all fillings are used up.

To Prepare the Won Ton Soup:

In a medium stock pot, bring water to a boil.  Cook the noodles according to the package.  Usually just 2 to 3 minutes.  Do not over cook the noodles as they are fresh noodles, which cooks up much faster than dried noodles.  Use a pair of chopsticks or tongs to move the noodles around when they’re cooking.  Remove noodles from heat and into serving bowls.  

Wait until water return to a boil before dropping the won tons in.  Add won tons and cook until the water re-boil again.  When the won tons flow onto the top, they’re ready.  (Keep in mind, if your won tons are frozen, it might take a few more minutes to cook up).  Remove from water and divide them into serving bowls. 
In a separate pot, heat your favorite seafood or chicken stock until boil.  Add bak choy and cook for a few minutes, remove to serving bowls.  Ladle stock into serving bowls, sprinkle with green onion, a splash of sesame oil, ground white pepper and serve.  It’s wonderful with a few drops of chili oil/chili sauce as well.


Note:
Serving suggestion: Usually 12 is perfect for one serving without noodle.  6 if serving with noodle and vegetables.

Storage suggestion: The filled won tons freeze really well.  Freeze wrapped won ton on a sheet tray until frozen (1 to 2 hours).  Then, transfer to a zip log bag for long term storage.



Recipe Shared with:

Friday Potluck
Home Maker Monday
Success U
Mingle Monday
Melt in Your Mouth Monday
On the Menu Monday
Fresh Bites Friday
Full Plate Thursday
Foodie Friday
Friday Food and Recipe Linky

Ohshima—Restaurant Review

[Warning: If you're not comfortable seeing live or whole seafood ingredients: including heads and tails, you might want to click away now.  Otherwise, keep on reading for some good eats.]




I used to live just 15 minutes away from a Japanese community in Los Angeles and pretty much surrounded by authentic Japanese restaurants.  After moving to the Orange county, I haven’t really had Japanese food until my visit to Ohshima.  Ohshima offers a wide variety of Japanese cuisine, both cooked and raw, a full menu from appetizers to desserts.  But if you plan to dine at this place, “Omakase” at the sushi bar is highly recommended.




Omakase (お任せ) is a Japanese phrase that means "I'll leave it to you". The expression is used at sushi restaurants to leave the selection to the chef.  The chef will generally present a series of plates, beginning with the lightest fare and proceeding to heaviest, richest dishes.

As noted on the menu, the nigiri sushi of the Omakase already came seasoned.  You don’t need to dip them in the soy sauce, really!  You can truly taste the natural sweetness of the fish/seafood and all of them were awesome and super fresh.  My husband and I both ordered the 12 pieces Omakase…and we ended up having more than 12!   

We’ve been to Ohshima in two separate occasions.  On our first visit, we enjoyed the Omakase at the sushi bar.   The second time we sat at the table and ordered from their regular a la carte menu and both were excellent.  First, I’ll post the pictures of the Omakase.

Please excuse the quality of these photos.  As they were taken from a cell phone, not my regular camera.

First, we started with a small plate of complimentary pickled veggies. 



A glass of cold sake for each of us.



The chefs working behind the sushi bar, busy preparing our food!  They were very friendly and attentive.



We started off with Diver’s Scallop.  Super fresh and sweet.  The tangy Yuzu is a perfect match for it.



Up next was Sea Bass. Refreshing and sweet.



Spanish Mackerel.  You can really taste the ocean from this Mackerel.



Toro (fatty tuna) charred with blow torch.  Any food involved a blow torch is just delicious.   Charring really added a nice smoky flavor to the fish.  I love the contrast of texture from the charred and raw flash.



Baby Yellowtail. Another "melt in your mouth" goodness.



Cherry Salmon.  Not your usual Salmon.  It's flown in from Japan.



Amberjack.  Sweet, fresh and great texture.  The flash is a bit firmer from the rest.



Sweet Shrimp Inari.  Yes, it was still swimming a minute before it was served.  The flash was still “moving” when it was on our plate.  The Chef was behind the counter holding the tail of the shrimp so we could take a picture.



Sweet Shrimp Inari.  It's about the freshest as it can get.



Deep Fried Sweet Shrimp heads. So crispy and light.  I love it because it’s not greasy at all and you can eat the whole thing including the tentacle.



Bonito Nigiri.  Great flavor.



Albacore with Secret Garlic Sauce and Chips.  So pungent, rich and flavorful.  The crispy garlic chips on top made a nice contrast in the texture and add another level of garlic-ey deliciousness.



Black Cod charred by a blow torch.



Uni (Sea Urchin) was super fresh and melt in your mouth.



Blue Crab Handroll, a nice way to conclude the savory part of our dinner.



Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Smoothie.  The chocolate cake was moist and delicious.  Perfect pairing with these Vanilla Smoothie.



All the seafood were made with quality ingredients and super fresh.  However, it’s a bit on the pricey side.  But you really paid for what you get.  Our bill for two including sake and dessert came a bit under $160 total, including tax. 

Up next, our second visit with a la carte items.

We started off with Home Made Marinated Uni.  Fresh, sweet, rich and delicious.  The seaweed salad on the bottom made a nice contrast on the texture.  The fresh wasabi on top compliment the Uni nicely.




Seaweed Salad.  A very refreshing salad.  I love the crunchy and bouncy texture from different type of seaweeds in this salad.  The amount of dressing was just perfect.



Baked Scallop Crabmeat Wrapped in Salmon.  It’s wonderful and unique.  The Crabmeat and scallop “stuffing” is chopped and wrapped with a piece of salmon fillet and baked to perfection. You can really taste the crabmeat and scallops inside.



Miso Duck and Forbidden Rice.  The duck was beautifully done.  The blackberry sauce was divine and compliment the duck nicely.  The duck was succulent and juicy. The Forbidden Black Rice has a great texture similar to brown rice and a mild nutty flavor, the perfect bed for the duck.



Last but not least, the Amberjack Collar.  I had yellowtail collar many times before so I opted to try the Amberjack Collar this time.  This fatty fish collar was perfectly done.  The collar was boiled to perfection with a minimal of seasoning.  It’s served with grated daikon, along with some light soy sauce and a wedge of lemon.  The portion was generous.  Basically, it was half of the fish head along with the collar instead of just the collar.



We also ordered Udon noodle soup and a Toro cut roll (nothing special on these two).   The total bill was low $70s after tax.  We didn’t order sake nor desserts this time because the kids were rushing us to go home after they were done.

Conclusion: Ohshima is an authentic Japanese restaurant that serves fresh and quality seafood and many unique a la carte dishes.  The dining area is rather small though.  There are only about 12 sushi bar seats and less than 10 tables all together.  You might want to make a reservation before you go or be there early to avoid the line.  Also, there’s no high chair nor booster seat available at the restaurant.  Despite these drawbacks, My husband and I DO plan to go back there again in the future. There were quite a few more other items on the menu we would love to try on our next visit.    

Ohshima

1956 N Tustin St
Orange, CA 92865

(714) 998-0098

*Disclaimer*

The Perfect Shrimp Fried Rice

Ina Garten is one of my favorite Food Network Chefs, besides Giada.  If you follow Ina’s shows, you’ll know that she always prepare a special chicken dish for her husband when he returns home every Friday, from a week-long of work, away from home.  So, I guess her husband really loves chickens and never gets bored of it.   The trick is, Ina always put a new twist onto the same old chicken dish.  So, each dish looks and tastes like a new and exciting one.  My husband had a special dish that I always prepare on Friday too, it’s fried rice.   Oh yes, you can put millions of twists on a basic fried rice and I guaranteed you’ll never get bored of it as well.



There are a few basic ingredients that always appear in the traditional fired rice recipe.  The rest if the ingredient lists are really up to your imaginations.  Plus, you can use up whatever ingredients you have left in your fridge.  That’s what make fried rice so much fun to eat and prepare.  And what a nice way to clean up the fridge, too!  There are a few basic techniques and tricks you need to follow in preparing the fired rice that will yield success on your finished dish every single time. 



First thing first, the basic ingredients.  They are, of course, the rice (I used brown rice here, you can use white, jasmine, or what ever you have on hand), eggs, onions, mix vegetables, meat or seafood (if you’re not vegetarian), and green onions.



Special equipment needed: a wok.  Or, a frying pan that is big enough to hold all the ingredients all at one.  Although you cook each ingredient separately, they all join into the "pool" at the end.  A big enough wok/pan will ensure easy stirring and no spilling.

Another important tips is to have all the ingredients ready and on stand-by before we start heating the wok.  This is a rather fast cooking dish, like most Chinese stir fry.  You won't have much time to chop up ingredients after your wok is heated.

First, cook the scrambled eggs and break them up into bit size pieces.



Next, Kielbasa (polish sausage), hahaha...I know that's not a typical Chinese cuisine ingredient.  But that's what I have in the fridge, and to the wok it goes.  You can definitely use Chinese sausage if you want.  Brown them nicely to develop the flavor is the key.



Up next, the onions.  I prefer the onions to have a little crunch in my rice.  So, I don't cook them until caramelized, just brown enough so the sweet flavor is developed.



Before you put the shrimps in, make sure the wok/pan is hot enough after the onions are removed from it.  If you're not sure, just heat the wok for a minute or two before putting the shrimps in.  Shrimps cook extremely fast and you definitely don't want to overcook them.



Next, the mixed vegetables. You can use fresh, canned or frozen ones.  I usually use the frozen one over the canned one as the canned one tend to be more soggy after reheating.



Last but not least, the rice.  The secret is to use a day old rice when you want a perfect fried rice dish that each grain of rice is separated and not stick together (well, not a secret anymore now).  Same as the theory of using a day old bread to make french toast.  You want less moisture in the fried rice so they won't be soggy or sticky.  Now, here comes the debate of using soy sauce in the rice.  I never put soy sauce in my fried rice.  As the authentic fried rice shouldn't have soy sauce in it.  The best way to season the rice is to use oyster sauce (my top choice), chicken bouillon granulate, or kosher salt.  Maggi sauce would be a wonderful choice too, but you can serve that on the side and add as much or as little to your own taste.



When the rice is heated through, everybody is back to the pool for a final stir.  Then season with white pepper and a dash of sesame oil.  Turn off the heat before you stir in the chopped green onions and you're done.



It's really easy to prepare and versatile.  If you follow these little tips, you'll have perfect fried rice every time.



Thank You all for all those sweet and lovely "Birthday" wishes from the previous post.  I truly appreciate your supports, feedback and suggestions you provided.  Since quite many of you requested to see more Asian, healthy and easy to prepare recipes, this Perfect Shrimp Fried Rice fits into all of those categories.  Yes, it is considered a healthy dish because you can control the amount of oil used to cook this dish, which is much less than those from the take-out places, and no MSG is used!  Who needs take outs when you can make this succulent and healthful fried rice so easily at home?  Not me.

If you haven't enter the Silicone Baking Mat (Silpat) and Vanilla Powder Giveaway yet, here's the link.  Good Luck.

This post is shared with:
Melt in Your Mouth Monday
On Menu Monday
Mingle Monday