Sheez, it had been a long, afternoon affair making wantons and soup!
Had it not for the fact that I was relatively free today, I’d have made a mess out of the kitchen. The preparation of the pork broth for wanton soup was truly therapeutic in the aromatic sense. The ingredients of the broth include pork bones, dried shrimps (hei bi), onion and garlic. Ahh, the taste of the homemade broth after 3 hours of simmering was simply delicious! It was a real pity that I had to dilute the broth to increase its volume as it turned out to be insufficient for submerging the cooked wantons later. Next time, I’d know better.
I wanted the prawns to have that signature succulent bite of har gau (shrimp dumplings – dim sum version). I remembered that my ex-colleague once casually mentioned about the method. After confirming the method from various sources on the Internet, I soaked the peeled and de-veined prawns in salt solution for 10 minutes. Well, I think the prawns did become plumber and had more crunch. However, something seemed to be amiss. May be the prawn taste was too strong?
The wrapping of the wantons was fun but time-consuming for the first-timer me. I tore a few wanton wrappers and tried to seal the tear by nipping the skin with my index finger and thumb. I took care to remove as much air as possible from the wantons during wrapping so as to minimise any ugly ballooning later. Being paranoid that water will not glue the wanton skin together, I really pressed them as firmly as possible. No wonder I felt exhausted after that!
The verdict? With my tender, loving squeeze, the wontons didn’t ‘explode’ (spill their contents) when cooked. Yay. :D Yang and I each ate a big bowl of wonton soup with chilli padi in light soy sauce as a side condiment. I’ll say it was, er, passable. 3 out of 5? Yang wasn’t excited about the dish at all. At least, he didn’t give any negative comment. I don’t think I’ll make this dish again unless I chance upon a better recipe or someone’s in the mood to throw a wonton party :P Wouldn’t it be fun to wrap wontons with a group of friends as a form of social gathering?
i attended a cooking class at Xing Fu restaurant and the chef from HK said, for “Har Kau bite” prawns, got to soak prawns in ice water, peel n devein (while still in ice water), drain, add sugar n self-raising flour and wash as though washing rice. drain, dry w cloth. then add salt, SR flour and mix well. add pepper, sesame oil n mix well. n leave in fridge overnight.
yeah.
never tried cos making the skin is too ma fun n chris doesn’t eat. maybe we can have a har kau making party =P chef sam leong uses scallops (pounded flat) as the skin
i have had sushi making parties before and also conducted a course in college for staff ^^ that’s much easier to make.
I thought the wantons were pretty OK; prawns were quite succulent. The soup was a little bland though. Maybe must add chicken stock next time.:)
Wa, getting those prawns to juice up for har kau is so ma fun one ah. *Raise up right hang excitedly* I’d love to have har kau making party! :D
add ikan bilis to boil together? may be even better?
Hmm, thanks for the suggestion! :)