Almost too pretty to eat, but of course not really, we devoured it all in a very short time. I’m not always in the mood or have the time, but when I do I love making everything from scratch. I find it really interesting deciphering dishes I’ve eaten in restaurants and to try and recreate them using as little prefab ingredients as possible. Granted, I did use store bought ramen and wonton sheets, but the rest was all made from scratch: the stock, the ramen eggs, the wontons, the mentsuyu (Japanese soup base). I’m always so surprised and giddy when I’ve been able to recreate the authentic flavours!
The Mentsuyu (Japanese soup base) was a real eye opener, to be honest I had bever really heard of it, but it’s so tasty and rich in flavour. It’s a mixture of saké, mirin, soy sauce, kombu (dried kelp) and katsuobishi (dried bonito flakes, the shaved pieces of fish that dance around your plate if you serve it on something warm, really spectacular). Boil it all together for a few minutes and you’ve got a bowl full of umami! Add a tablespoon to a bowl with a grated clove of garlic and pour the hot broth on top to let it infuse.
Another new for me were the ramen eggs. I just made 2 to start with but I wish I had made more. They were the star of the dish! Although the broth flavoured by the prawn shells and heads was also amazing. All in all pretty happy with this one.
Ramen eggs and Mentsuyu recipes from a recipe by @justonecookbook
Wonton soup by a recipe from @seonkyounglongest
Prawn Wonton & Ramen Soup with Ramen Eggs and Charred Paksoi
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
Loading...Ingredients
- For Soup (makes 3 to 4 serving)
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 cup rice wine
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 2 cup soy milk (or water if want to keep the soup more clear)
- For Wontons - makes 20 to 22 wontons (optional, see notes)
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 2 cm ginger, grated
- 2 spring onions, finely chopped
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp rice wine
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
- Pinch black pepper
- 20 to 22 wonton wrappers, extra thin square shape
- For Ramen (per bowl)
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- 1 tbsp tsuyu, Japanese soup base sauce, store bought or homemade
- 1/2 baby paksoi
- 1 portion fresh or frozen ramen noodles
- 1 ramen egg (or boiled egg)
- Chopped Spring onions
- Black & white sesame seeds
- Chili oil, store bought or homemade(optional)
Instructions
Soup
Remove heads and shells of shrimp and place in a medium size pot for soup. Keep meat aside for wontons.
Add cooking oil into pot, turn on heat to medium high and sauté shrimp heads and shells. During this time, squeeze shrimp head with a wooden spoon to get beautiful buttery flavor orange “goo”.
Shrimps heads and shells will turn a lovely orange color, ± 4 minutes
Deglaze bottom of pot with rice wine, making sure you scrape off all the lovely brown bits at bottom of the pan.
Pour chicken stock and soy milk. Bring it to boil then reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes without a lid. Stir occasionally.
When soup is done simmering, drain out the shrimp heads and shells from soup. Keep it warm.
Wontons, Ramen & Paksoi
Chop shrimp meat until it’s sticky and pasty texture.
Place shrimp in a mixing bowl then add garlic, ginger, spring onions, egg, soy sauce, rice wine, sesame seeds, sesame oil, cornstarch and black pepper. Mix well together.
Place about 1 tsp of filling in middle of a wonton wrapper and fold by bring all edges together. Make sure it's sealed properly, no special folding skills are required. Repeat with rest of ingredients.
Bring another pot of water to boil and add generous amount of salt.
Add the ramen to the water and cook following the directions of the packaging. Remove and set aside (to reheat later you can quickly dunk it back in the water if needed)
Drop wontons (7 per serving) into salted boiling water, cook for about 3 minutes. Keep moving them around so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan.
You'll know they're done when they start floating to the top.
In a grill pan or frying pan grill or sauté the paksoi on high heat so it slightly chars, you don't need long, ± 2 minutes each side. You can also blanch the paksoi in the boiling water if you prefer.
To serve
While wontons and noodles are cooking, grate 1 clove garlic into a serving bowl and add 1 tbsp mentsuyu.
Pour 2 cups of broth into serving bowl. Drain cooked ramen noodles and add into bowl. Stir noodles to coat evenly with broth and arrange them.
Remove wontons and place top of noodles. Now, arrange grilled paksoi, ramen egg, chopped spring onions, sesame seeds and chili oil if you like.
Serve immediately! Enjoy!
Notes
I made prawn wontons for this dish, but you can also just grill or sauté the prawns with some garlic and chili just before serving and add them to the dish. This of course will make it much less time consuming!
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