Prawn wonton noodle soup
Hong Kong's favourite bowl made at home: plump prawn wontons and springy egg noodles in a ginger-scented broth. Wrap a batch at the weekend and breakfast takes ten minutes.
- 30 min
- Serves 2
- Boil
- Medium
Why it suits you: Start of Summer may be warm outside, but a Yang-deficient constitution still gets cold hands and feet in air-conditioned offices and feels the chill most in the morning. Prawns warm kidney yang, and a steaming bowl of wonton noodles with ginger and yellow chives warms you through without being too drying.
Method
Prep 20 min · Cook 10 min- 1Rub the prawns with a pinch of salt and the cornflour, rinse and pat dry. Roughly chop them (leaving a few whole), then beat with the pork, salt, pepper and sesame oil into a springy filling.
- 2Put a teaspoon of filling on each wrapper and pinch to seal; wrap extra and freeze them for quick breakfasts.
- 3Bring the stock to the boil with the ginger and flounder powder, then keep it at a gentle simmer.
- 4In a separate pan of boiling water, blanch the noodles for 30 seconds and rinse briefly under cold water, then boil the wontons for 3 minutes until they float. Put the noodles and wontons in bowls, pour over the hot broth and scatter with the yellow chives.
Cautions
- Avoid if you're allergic to prawns or shellfish; during a gout flare, go easy on seafood and rich broth.
Chef's tips
- Freeze wrapped wontons spaced out on a tray until hard, then bag them so they don't stick together; cook them straight from frozen.
The TCM view
Prawns are sweet and warm, tonifying kidney yang. Pork is sweet, salty and neutral, nourishing yin and moistening dryness, which tempers the prawns' warmth. Yellow chives are pungent and warm, warming the middle and moving qi; ginger warms the stomach and disperses cold, and dried flounder adds a deep savoury sweetness. Warming overall — a good morning bowl for Yang deficiency.
