Wanton Wonton Soup

I had this recipe kicking around in my head for a week or so. I had most all of the ingredients I wanted to use, but when it came time to cook tonight I had to do more improvising than I thought. I didn't have bok choy, so I tossed spinach in instead. I ran out of soy sauce and made up the difference with miso paste. Turns out I didn't even have regular wonton wrappers- I only had the round. Oh well. The flavors were great and it turned out to be a delicious meal.

There are numerous definitions for "wanton." For this recipe, I'm using it as a synonym for "reckless" and "without regard to the rules." But this soup was so good, you might think of the word "wanton" in a whole 'nother way.


Wonton Soup

1 16 oz. package of Match ground “beef”
1 cup chopped scallions
½ cup chopped mushrooms
1 cup spinach
1 cup bagged broccoli coleslaw veggies
½ cup water chestnuts, sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon ground ginger
½ tablespoon soy sauce
1½ teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Five spice powder
1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
2 tablespoons dark miso paste, divided
1 package wontons wrappers
8 cups No-Chicken broth
½ cup bok choy, sliced (I didn’t have any, so I used spinach)
½ cup sliced mushrooms



1. Do a quick sauté of scallions, chopped mushrooms, spinach, coleslaw, and water chestnuts in a hot skillet with about a tablespoon of olive oil until they just start to get tender. Once they’re cooked down a little, put vegetables in food processor (but don’t pulse yet).

2. In the same skillet, add more oil and cook the Match “meat” through with the garlic, ginger and soy sauce. Break it up like hamburger and let it brown a little bit.

3. Put the browned “meat” into the food processor with the vegetables. Add vinegar, oil, five spice powder, hot pepper flakes, and 1 tablespoon miso paste. Pulse until mixed and it begins to look like ravioli filling. Don’t pulse it down too much, though, because you want some different textures in there.

4. Assemble the broth. Add the No-Chicken broth, remaining miso paste, bok choy (or spinach in my case), and sliced mushrooms to a pot and cook to boiling.

5. While broth is heating, assemble the wontons, following the package instructions. I only had round wrappers, so my wontons ended up looking like empanadas. I made 24 using about a tablespoon of filling in each. That left half of the wrappers and mix for me to freeze and use another time.

6. Stir the broth to make sure that the miso is dissolved. When broth is boiling, carefully add the wontons. Do not overcook: wontons are done in about 3 minutes and if you overcook them they’ll start to fall apart. Serve soup immediately.