Thai Inspired

coconut wonton soup

kosher and/or Vegan

Delicate wontons filled with a blend of shiitake mushrooms, chestnuts, and enticing spices bob up and down in a flavorful vegetable broth enriched with coconut milk. A few scattered strips of red bell pepper and sweet onion, and a few carrot flowers, add a crunchy counterpoint to the soft wontons. If you don’t include the time it takes to assemble the wontons, it all comes together rather quickly.  The wontons can be made in advance and kept in the fridge for a day, or frozen for longer. (To freeze them, slide them into the freezer on a parchment-lined baking sheet, making sure they don’t touch. Once frozen, remove the pan from the freezer and transfer the frozen wontons to a zip bag. Get the bag as air tight as you can.) They’re actually fun to put together. Also, many hands make short work, and little hands make for more fun. My six-year-old grandson picked up the skill very quickly and was very proud of his wontons. He ate every drop of his soup.

There’s no need to roast and peel fresh chestnuts here. Although those are fabulous on a chilly winter day, in this application when you’re grinding them up with mushrooms, the effort isn’t worth the result. If your local grocery doesn’t carry packaged chestnuts, you can get them here.

The siracha in the filling really does round out the flavor. Just a few drops will do it, without making them spicy. But, if you want them to have some heat, by all means use more.

These may be—I’m being modest–these will be the best vegan wontons you will ever eat. They’re so jam-packed with flavor that I just can’t get enough of them, and even though I’m not vegetarian, I’d rather eat these than the ones filled with meat any day.

Making “flowers” of the carrot slices isn’t necessary, but they do add fun. These are not those gorgeous ones made by experienced culinary artists, but they are cute and easy. To make them, start by peeling a carrot and cutting it into approximately 4 inch pieces. Then there are are a few different ways to proceed, each giving a slightly different look. Here are two of them:

Use a small fork—drag the tines of a small fork down the length of the carrot chunk, pressing down to get a nice, deep groove. Turn the carrot and keep making these grooves all around. Repeat with the rest of the carrot chunks.

Use a citrus zester—Do exactly the same thing you would do with the fork, only using a citrus zester. (It’s a great, inexpensive tool to have. It makes strips and twists of peel, as well)

Then, slice your carrots into coins, no bigger than ¼ inch thick.

Let’s get started!

tines of a fork

citrus zester

Jump to recipe

First, let’s make the wontons:

Ingredients:

• 1 package wonton wrappers (available at most grocery stores)

• 2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as avocado or sunflower

• ½ cup minced onion

• 1 tablespoon minced ginger

• 1 large or 2 small cloves garlic, minced

• 5 ounces shiitake mushroom caps, sliced

• 5 ounces (approximately) peeled, roasted chestnuts, each one cut in half lengthwise

• a dash of soy sauce

• a few drops of siracha sauce (or more to taste)

• 1 tablespoon minced basil

• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Pour the oil into a small skillet and sauté the onion, with a pinch of salt, until it’s soft and translucent.

• Add the mushrooms, the ginger, and the garlic and sauté until they’re soft.

• Then add the chestnuts and continue to sauté until everything in the pan is golden brown. This really builds that umami flavor.

• Scrape the contents of the pan into a food processor. Add a small dash of soy sauce and a few drops (or more) of siracha, then process until the mixture is the consistency of a meatball mixture.

• Stir in the basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

• The easiest way to assemble the wontons is to set up an assembly line. Form the mushroom-chestnut mixture into balls, about ½ inch in diameter, and lay them out on a sheet of parchment. Have another sheet of parchment on a baking sheet, ready to hold your wontons in a single layer.

• Set your stack of wonton wrappers to the side and cover them with a sheet of plastic wrap or damp paper towel.

• Beat the egg in a small bowl with ½ teaspoon water.

• Lay one wonton wrapper in front of you on an angle, like a diamond, and re-cover the rest of the stack. Place a ball of filling just off center, towards the corner that’s furthest away from you. Using a small pastry brush or your fingers, brush a bit of egg around the four sides of the wrapper. Pick up the corner closest to you and fold it over to meet the opposite corner, pressing down to make a tight seal, pushing out any air that might have been trapped inside. Make sure to press firmly all around, or your filling could leak out while boiling. How disappointing to get an empty wonton in your bowl! Don’t worry if your wrappers aren’t perfectly square and your triangles are off-kilter.

• Optional: Brush a bit of egg on one corner of your triangle. Bring the opposite corner to the middle, and then fold the corner with the egg over it, to make a little envelope. These look really pretty, but it’s not a necessary step. (check out the photo above)

• Repeat with the next wrapper, replacing the paper towel on the stack each time. Place your wontons on the parchment as they’re done. Don’t let them touch each other.

• Let them rest for several hours before boiling them. This will help to keep them from falling apart.

Now let’s make the soup:

One of my favorite things about Thai food is the wonderful balance of the four flavors—salty, sweet, sour, and hot—that do their happy dance on my tongue. Depending upon the dish, the flavors may be skewed more towards one or another of these components. Season this soup with this concept in mind, to appeal to your own personal taste.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil or neutral oil

• About a thumb’s length of galangal or ginger, peeled and minced.

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• ½ stalk fresh lemon grass, cut on the bias into 2 inch pieces. Remove the tough outer layer. (if you can’t find lemongrass, you may find it puréed in a tube. Or, just leave it out)

• 6-8 kaffir lime leaves (available fresh at Asian markets. You can also buy dried keffir lime leaves. (if you can’t find them leave them out, but they impart a wonderful flavor to the soup. There’s really no substitute for them). You can store fresh leaves in the freezer. They stay for a very long time if tightly sealed in a zip bag.

• 2 quarts stock, homemade or store-bought (you can use chicken stock, no-chicken stock, or light colored vegetable stock)

• 2 cans Thai regular—not light—coconut milk

• the juice of 1 Persian lime, or to taste (some limes are juicier than others)

• 4 teaspoons coconut sugar (you can substitue brown sugar, but this stuff is really good!), or more to taste

• ½ red bell pepper, cut into thin strips

• ½ small sweet onion, such as vidalia, cut into thin slices

• 2 carrots, cut into flowers (optional—see above) and sliced into 1/8-1/4 inch thick coins

• 2-3 tablespoons fish sauce. There’s a kosher brand here, and a vegan brand here.

• Thai chili sauce or a few drops of siracha (optional)

• a handful of cilantro leaves, chopped (if you don’t like it, leave it out or replace it with ribbons of basil)

Method:

• Warm the oil in a soup pot. Add the galangal or ginger, and the garlic, and sauté for about 30 seconds or so.

• Add the stock, the lemongrass, and the keffir lime leaves. Simmer covered for about 20 minutes. *

• Add the coconut milk, the fish sauce, the onions, the peppers, and the carrorts and simmer, uncovered, for about another 5 minutes. You want the vegetables to lose their raw flavor but remain crisp. Taste the soup. There should be a pleasant balance of sweet, salty, and sour. Add salt if you think it needs it, a little black pepper, and more lime and/or sugar to taste. You can add some Thai chili paste if you want some heat in the soup.

Finish the Dish:

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Drop in the wontons (don’t overcrowd the pot—do this in batches if you need to) and boil them for 3 minutes. When they’re done, scoop them out with a slotted spoon and return them to the sheet of parchment. The wontons will be “al dente.” They’llcook a bit more when you pour the hot soup over them. If they’re over-boiled they may fall apart.

Cover them with plastic wrap to keep them soft if you’re not serving right away.

To Serve:

Place as many wontons as you’d like to serve into each bowl. Ladle the hot soup over them, then sprinkle each bowl with the chopped cilantro.

* The soup is usually served with the lemongrass stalk and the lime leaves left in. They’re not edible and diners push them to the side. For a more formal service, you can strain them out before adding the coconut milk, peppers, onions, and carrots. By this point, the flavors will have adequately been transferred to the soup, and removing them won’t be an issue.