Name: Authentic Huai Yang Style Wonton Soup Recipe
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 495 g all-purpose flour, about 3 cups, organic preferred, plus an extra 1/4 cup for dusting & coating dough later; 3 large eggs, cage-free or organic preferred; 25 g avocado oil, about 2 tbsp; 1/8 tsp salt, Himalayan pink salt or sea salt; 80 g water, approximate, see note; 495 g all-purpose flour, about 4 cups, organic preferred, plus an extra 1/4 cup for dusting & coating dough later; 25 g avocado oil, about 2 tbsp; 225 g water, room temperature, a little under 1 cup, approximate, see notes; 1/8 tsp salt, Himalayan pink salt, or sea salt; 1 lb ground pork, home ground preferred, see notes; 1 tbsp naturally aged soy sauce {Jiang You}, or dark soy sauce; 4 tbsp light soy sauce; 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine; 1/2 tbsp Zhenjiang vinegar; 1 tbsp arrowroot flour; 1 egg; 1/4 tsp cane sugar, organic unrefined preferred; 1/2 tsp ginger powder, or a small piece of tender organic ginger, finely minced; 2 stalks of green onions, chopped; 1 lb Shanghai Bok Choy. Only use the green leaves part, about 12 oz, blanched and chopped in small pieces; 1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt; 6 cups chicken broth, homemade preferred, see notes; 1 tsp Himalayan pink salt; 1/2 tsp white pepper, freshly ground; 2 eggs; 1/4 tsp cooking oil such as avocado oil; 1 sheet of nori {roasted seaweed}

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Huai Yang style wonton soup is naturally delicious. It is a popular, well-liked traditional food in China’s Yangtze River Delta area, the home to Huai Yang cuisine.

Born and growing up in Suzhou, the Huai Yang style wonton soup has been one of my hometown favorites. As a child, having a steaming hot bowl of wonton soup at the over 100-year-old restaurant in downtown Suzhou was always a treat I looked forward to.

Wonton Soup {Huai Yang Style} — wonton soup Huai Yang style

What is Huai Yang Style?

Huai Yang style cuisine refers to the food native to China’s Yangtze River Delta area, one of the most developed areas in China across China’s over 5,000 years of history. The food in cities such as Suzhou, Hangzhou, Yangzhou, Nanjing, Wuxi, and Shanghai represents Huai Yang style cuisine.

The area enjoys a mild four seasons climate, rich soil condition, and bountiful waterways. The cooking typically uses seasonal fresh ingredients assortments with minimal add-ons aiming to bring out food’s natural inherent yumminess. For this reason, the Huai Yang style dish is perfect for those who prefer healthy and clean eating.

Huai Yang Cuisine Classic Dishes Collection 1 — Huai Yang Cuisine Classic Dishes

What Makes Huai Yang Style Wonton Soup Unique?

Well, several things I’d like to highlight:

First, wonton wrappers contain eggs

This helps create a spongy firm bite texture and has a yellow hue in color. Homemade egg noodle dough is ideal to make the wonton wrappers. Make the dough slightly softer for wonton wrappers vs. noodles.

Of course, you can always plain-flour wrappers like Cantonese or Sichuan style wontons. Use Homemade plain noodle dough to make the wonton wrappers.

Learn how to make homemade wonton wrappers using either egg-dough or plain-dough here.

Homemade Huai Yang Wonton Wraps — Homemade Huai Yang Wonton Wrappers

Second, the filling is ground pork with baby Bok Choy leaves

Home-ground pork works utterly well for juicy & tasty wonton or dumpling fillings.

Bok Choy is a popular everyday green leafy vegetable in the Yangtze River Delta area. For instance, you shall see it appear in multiple classic Huai Yang dishes such as “Lion’s Head Soup” or “Rice Flour Gnocchi with Bok Choy“.

Today I am using the last crop of the season from my backyard garden.

Third, we wrap wonton in the classic way

It is a classic way of folding wonton in the shape of a dustpan. Some people refer to it as “bonnet”. See “How To Wrap Wontons Classic Way” for a detailed easy to follow tutorial.

The fourth is the soup base

It is made of chicken broth with egg crepe and roasted seaweed (nori or zicai) julienne as toppings

Homemade chicken broth makes a quintessential wonton soup base. Egg crepe and roasted seaweed julienne add additional flavor, texture, and beautiful colors to the soup.

The roasted seaweed I am talking about here, or “zicai” (紫菜) in Chinese, is the Chinese version of nori. Both nori and zicai are from a special type of red algae.

“Zicai” literate translates as a “purple vegetable”, referring to the hue of purplish color. During old days, people often whip out an instant soup using zicai, soy sauce wiht a splash of sesame oil.

The nori seaweed for wrapping sushi works almost identical to Chinese-style zicai. The only difference I can tell is the look. Chinese-style typically looks like a round bird’s nest with multiple layers of roasted seaweeds stack against each other. Nori is rectangular and single-layered paper-thin sheets.

So how to make an authentic Huai Yang style wonton soup?

Wonton wrappers:

See “Homemade Wonton Wrappers” for detailed step-by-step on how to make wonton wrappers at home. If you are using store-bought wonton wraps, go to the next section directly.

Wonton Fillings:

* Ground Pork

Home ground pork works amazingly for juicy & delicious wontons, dumplings, buns, and meatballs. If you use store-bought ground pork, try to get quality meat that has about 75% lean percentage.

* Marinating Sauce for Ground Pork

Aged soy sauce, light soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, Zhenjiang vinegar are my go-to four key condiments for Chinese cooking. They truly work like magic that gets rid of all the unpleasant flavor and smell of meat or poultry, and then successfully bring out all their inherent yumminess.

I actually incorporate them in burger patties as well, which works out stunningly well. Best juicy and tasty burger patty ever!

* Arrowroot Flour

Arrowroot flour is my go-to wholesome gluten free starch for all cooking & baking. It is one change I made when I jump-started a healthier cooking and living journey back in 2015.

I have been using this arrowroot flour since the very beginning and never have to look elsewhere. I also use their organic cocoa powder to make a super delicious & healthy hot chocolate at home, a treat my kids frequently ask for.

* Green Onions and Ginger

Together with garlic, I call them Chinese cooking three cornerstone herbs. You shall see them in almost every delicious Chinese food.

Besides making the food taste so much better, they also offer impressive health benefits. People believe they help boost immune systems, help blood circulation, and have anti-inflammatory effects.

Wrap Huai Yang Style Wonton

Classic wonton wrapping Huai Yang style looks like a dustpan, or some people refer to it as “bonnet”. See “How To Wrap Wontons Classic Way” to learn classic wonton wrapping via an easy to follow 3-step process.

Tips for Cooking Wontons

Cook wontons in a stockpot filled with boiling water are one of the most popular ways to cook wontons or dumplings. Go to the recipe for detailed step-by-step.

Remember not to over-crowd the pot and cook about a maximum of 15 wontons at a time. You want to cook the wontons cook quickly to avoid them being soaked in water for too long to lose the texture and flavor.

After you have done adding tap water three times into the boiling pot and it reaches a boil again and all wontons are floating at the top, it is a good sign that wontons are ready. Remove them from the pot using a skimmer.

Tips for Preparing Wonton Soup Base

Make the egg crepe in advance if you can

Whisk eggs very well to have a smooth golden egg crepe. I have been using a mini whisk for years. They are very handy to whisk in a bowl or glass measuring cup.

How to serve Huai Yang Style Wonton Soup?

Bring the chicken broth to a boil and add salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste, mix well.

Prepare serving bowls. For each bowl, add about 1/4 cup of egg crepe, roasted seaweed julienne, 6 wontons, and 1 1/2 cup of steaming hot chicken broth.

Enjoy a deliciously comforting & healthy wonton soup!

Frequently Asked Questions:

Can I freeze wontons for later use?

Absolutely. Wontons are very freezer friendly, perfect for “make in advance” types of meal preps.

Place the freshly wrapped wontons one by one in a container or a flat sheet. Let them stay that way in the freezer overnight. The wontons firm-up overnight, you can then place them in a ziplock bag the next day and store them in the freezer for up to 6 months.

What do I do with the extra wonton fillings?

They are super tasty by themselves. You can either make a meatball or patties out of it.

Do you like Huai Yang classic dishes? Make sure you check out below recipes:

Authentic Huai Yang Style Wonton Soup Recipe

Yield: 8 servings

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Authentic Huai Yang Style wonton featuring minced pork and Shanghai bok choy greens are so classic and unstoppably delicious. The egg crepe and nori slices are traditional add-ons for the naturally yummy broth soup.

Ingredients

For Egg Wonton Wrappers:

495 g all-purpose flour, about 3 cups, organic preferred, plus an extra 1/4 cup for dusting & coating dough later
3 large eggs, cage-free or organic preferred
25 g avocado oil, about 2 tbsp
1/8 tsp salt, Himalayan pink salt or sea salt
80 g water, approximate, see note

For Regular Wonton Wrappers:

495 g all-purpose flour, about 4 cups, organic preferred, plus an extra 1/4 cup for dusting & coating dough later
25 g avocado oil, about 2 tbsp
225 g water, room temperature, a little under 1 cup, approximate, see notes
1/8 tsp salt, Himalayan pink salt, or sea salt

For Wonton Fillings:

1 lb ground pork, home ground preferred, see notes
1 tbsp naturally aged soy sauce {Jiang You}, or dark soy sauce
4 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
1/2 tbsp Zhenjiang vinegar
1 tbsp arrowroot flour
1 egg
1/4 tsp cane sugar, organic unrefined preferred
1/2 tsp ginger powder, or a small piece of tender organic ginger, finely minced
2 stalks of green onions, chopped
1 lb Shanghai Bok Choy. Only use the green leaves part, about 12 oz, blanched and chopped in small pieces
1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt

For the Soup:

6 cups chicken broth, homemade preferred, see notes
1 tsp Himalayan pink salt
1/2 tsp white pepper, freshly ground
2 eggs
1/4 tsp cooking oil such as avocado oil
1 sheet of nori {roasted seaweed}

Instructions

Prepare Wonton Wrappers:

If you have a stand mixer or manual pasta machine, you can make wonton wrappers at home easily. Read here for a detailed recipe and tutorial.

Prepare Wonton Fillings:

Gather ingredients.
Fill a stockpot with water and bring it to a boil. While waiting for the water to boil, do the following preparations.
Cut green onions and ginger into small pieces and then use a mini food processor to finely mince into a paste.
Place the ground pork into a mixing bowl, and add everything under "For Wonton Fillings" except for the bok choy, along with the freshly minced green onion & ginger paste.
Use a wooden spatula to gently break down the ground pork, and start to mix everything together. Once everything is somewhat mixed, use a swift motion to turn the spatula in the same direction, either clockwise or counterclockwise to bind pork with seasonings into a seasoned pork paste.
Separate Shanghai bok choy each leaf, soak in plenty of water, and wash and rinse multiple times. After that, trim the white crunchy stems off. You can use them for some other dishes.
When the water in the stockpot reaches a boil, put the washed & cleaned Shanghai bok choy green leaves into the boiling water for about 30 seconds and immediately take it out using a skimmer.
Rinse the blanched baby Bok Choy quickly under the cold water, and then give it a firm squeeze using two hands to get rid of the extra water.
Cut the blanched Shanghai bok choy greens into very small pieces and fold them into the marinated ground pork.

Prepare Egg Crepes and Roasted Seaweed Julienne:

Crack two eggs into a bowl, and whisk very well using a mini whisk.

Turn the heat to medium-high, and heat a 12-inch hard-anodized fry pan for 1 minute, Spray two squirts of avocado oil in the middle of the pan, and use a mini rubber spatula to spread the oil evenly across the bottom of the pan.
Pour about half of the whisked egg into the pan, hold the panhandle and move the pan in a rotational mode so that the egg liquid will roll and spread an even thin layer across the bottom of the pan.

Let it cook for about 1 minute, and then use a wide-slotted turner to flip the egg crepe and cook the other side for about 30 seconds.
Remove the cooked egg crepe from the pan, and then repeat the steps to cook the remaining whisked egg.
Turn off the heat and remove the egg crepe from the pan. Cut the egg crepe using julienne cut and set aside.
Use a kitchen scissor to cut the roasted seaweed sheet into julienne and set aside.

Wrap Wontons:

Read "How To Wrap Wontons in a classic way" for a detailed easy-to-follow tutorial.

Cook Wontons:

Fill a large stockpot (8 Qt.) 75% with water and bring it to a boil

Add about a dozen wontons into the boiling water at a time, gently stir and make sure they are separated and are not sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Close the lid and bring it to a boil again. As the boiling water rises and is about to reach the top edge of the pot, pour in a cup of tap water, and then close the lid again and wait for it to be back to a boil.

Repeat this another two times.

As soon as it reaches a boil again, turn off the heat. By now, all the wontons should be floating at the top of the pot. Use a stainless skimmer to remove the cooked wontons from the pot.
Turn on the heat back to medium-high, and repeat the above steps to cook the next batch of wontons.

Serve the Wonton Soup:

Add the chicken broth into a saucepan, bring it to a boil and turn off the heat.
Add the salt and freshly ground white pepper, mix well, and to the taste.
Prepare 4 bowls. For each bowl of wonton soup, add about 1/4 cup of egg crepe julienne, 1/4 cup of seaweed julienne, 6 wontons, and 1 1/2 cups of steaming chicken broth.
Serve hot and enjoy a yummy bowl of authentic Huai Yang Style Wonton Soup!

Notes

For coriander seeds, I usually just get the organic coriander seeds and then use a spice grinder to grind them into powder.
See homemade wonton wrappers for making wonton wraps step-by-step tutorial.
Freshly homemade wonton wrappers are soft and easy to press. If you are using store-bought wonton wraps, dab a little water around the area where you want to seal the wontons together. This helps moisturize the wrap to make it easy to press together to seal.
See homemade chicken broth for how to make a delicious chicken broth at home. Homemade chicken broth doesn't contain any salt, 1 tsp of salt is added to the final soup for 6 cups of chicken broth. If you are using store-bought chicken broth, adjust the salt level based on the sodium included in the broth.
When cutting the thin dough sheet into wonton wrappers, trim the edge first. You can then cut those edges into noodles. Cook the noodles and add them to the soup to make it a wonton noodle soup.
Extra wonton fillings can turn into meatballs or patties. Extra wonton sheets can turn into noodles.
Wontons are freezer friendly. Place the freshly wrapped wontons inside a container or a flat sheet and store them in the freezer overnight. Wontons shall firm up overnight. After they are firmed up, you may put them into a ziplock bag and store them in the freezer.

Recommended Ingredients:

Shaoxing wine, naturally aged soy sauce, light soy sauce, Zhenjiang vinegar, arrowroot flour, organic all-purpose flour, nori {roasted seaweed}, avocado oil, organic cane sugar, organic coriander seeds, organic ginger powder, Himalayan pink salt, white pepper, canola oil.

Recommended Kitchen Tools & Gadgets:

Stand mixer, with noodle-making attachment, manual pasta maker, hard anodized fry-pan, slotted turner, dough cutter, mixing bowls, bamboo spatula, compact food processor, stainless steel skimmer, 8-Q stock pot, chef's knife, mini whisk, mini silicone spatulas.