For those who want to know what can make you go, "Yummmmmmm...," I present my recipe for wonton soup. Please note that it is highly adviseable to get all the preliminaries set out and placed in a workable order for you, because once you start actually cooking the wontons, you really can't stop until all of them are done.
All measurements are approximate...your palate is your own.
1/2 lb. ground turkey (lean)
ginger root
1/2 cup thawed cooked spinach (I recommend Bird's Eye chopped spinach...fewer stems). I recommend squeezing excess moisture from it over the sink.
32 oz. (or more) organic OR clear chicken broth.
soy sauce (I prefer low sodium)
1 package wonton skins (usually 40 - 50 count, depending upon your brand.)
To prepare for cooking:
* grate the ginger until you have approximately 1/4 cup
* pour broth into a large pot and add 1/4 c. spinach and "some" soy sauce
* fill a small cup with room temperature water for dipping your fingers to moisten the wonton skins
* take the wonton skins out of their package and stack them for easy access
* start the broth heating to a boil, while you prepare the meat mixture
* In a small mixing bowl, mix the ground turkey, 1/4 c. of spinach, and all the grated ginger. Dash in some soy sauce. Mix by hand, blending all the ingredients as best you can. It will not be uniform, but it should be fairly mixed.
To prepare a batch of wontons for cooking:
** Lay out the wonton skins. I use a large cutting board for this, for easy clean-up later. I generally go 12 at a time.
** In the center of each square, put about 1/2 teaspoon of the meat mixture. You will figure out how much after you roll your first batch. There should not be more than can be comfortably rolled and closed into the skin without tearing the pasta.
** After wetting your fingertips, wet the edges of each wonton skin.
** Roll each wonton up, from bottom to top, picking it up, folding the ends so they meet, and pinching the pasta so that it sticks to itself.
** Repeat.
Cooking:
*** When one batch is done (say a dozen or so), and the soup is boiling, carefully drop the wontons into the broth.
*** While they cook, prepare the next batch of wontons.
*** Wontons are done when they float in the soup pot. (I have found that one batch is done by the time I have laid out, filled, and rolled the next dozen wontons.)
*** Remove with a slotted spoon into a bowl.
Repeat until all your wonton skins have been cooked.
If you find you have some meat mixture left after all the skins have been used, roll it into small meatballs and cook them with the last batch of wontons. They will cook quickly and make a nice addition to the soup.
If you find you have extra wonton skins when the meat mixture is gone, you can deep fry them and coat them in powdered sugar for a quick dessert.
The soup is a fairly healthy, low-fat recipe. Cooked wonton soup will keep for at least three days in the fridge, if you make up a huge batch and are the only one who is eating it.
