Won Ton Soup

My family loves Chinese food. Good Won Ton soups and Hot & Sour soups are especially great to find. In Tucson the best restaurant version of Won Ton soup I've found is at Cheng's in Oro Valley. A great tasting broth, lots of veggies and really good tasting won tons. The absolute best Hot & Sour I've had is at China Bay in South Tucson on Valencia near the intersection of 12th Ave. It is really good and spicy, I order a double size bowl whenever I have lunch there.

With such a love of Chinese soups it is always with much reticence that I venture into making one of the two soups. Measuring up to the pros is a daunting challenge but what the heck. I took a huge shortcut with this Won Ton soup by using store bought Won Tons from my favorite Asian international market, Lee Lee Oriental Supermart on La Cholla and Orange Grove here in Tucson. They've got dozens of different types of won tons along with Chinese dumplings (not sure of the difference) and things called buns. This market is really different from conventional American grocery stores in both the products they carry and the layout of the store. The prices of their produce and meats are actually lower than our usual store I noticed today. So with store bought won tons this soup is really easy to make. Here we go:

Ingredients for about 12 cups of soup or 96 ounces

8 cups of chicken broth

1 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and julienned or cut into match sticks

1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce

1/4 cup of rice cooking wine

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons dark sesame oil

1 teaspoon dark brown sugar

Pinch of salt

1 pound of pork shoulder sliced thinly in 1/2 inch by 2 inch strips

2 carrots, thinly sliced on the bias (diagonally), about 1 cup

24 frozen won tons, any kind or a mix (seafood, pork, beef, chicken, vegetable)

3 scallions, white and green part sliced diagonally about 1.5 inches long

4 cups of baby spinach

chopped cilantro for garnish

Asian chili paste for garnish

Directions

Put the broth, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine, vinegar, sesame oil, brown sugar, salt and pork in a soup pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Adjust the heat so the broth simmers and cooks to lightly flavor with ginger, about 10-15 minutes.

Increase the heat to medium high and add the carrots and cook until they are not quite crunchy, about 3 minutes. Add the frozen won tons and cook another 7 minutes until the won tons are heated through. Stir in the scallions and spinach and cook until they are wilted, about 1 minute. Serve with the cilantro and chili sauce on the side.

Just for fun I'm bringing fortune cookies with the soup for tomorrow's Wednesday's Soup At Work. I found there are custom fortune cookie companies that will use your own custom fortunes, how cool is that!