Wonton Soup

Name: Wonton Soup
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: Pork mince; Raw prawns; Plain flour; Egg; Chicken stock; Toasted sesame oil; Light soy sauce; Spring onions; Fresh ginger; Pak choi; Black pepper

363 kcal a serving, against 449 for the traditional version. That is 86 kcal off, or 19%, with 28.4g of protein. Serves 6. 45 minutes.

What the traditional version is

A rich chicken broth filled with soft pastry parcels. The dumplings contain a highly seasoned mix of minced fatty pork shoulder and prawns, bound with soy sauce and heavily scented with roasted sesame oil. Usually finished with a thick slick of extra oil on top of the soup.

What changed, and what each change costs

300g of fatty pork shoulder for 4% fat lean pork mince

The fat in the traditional filling stays trapped inside the wrapper when you boil it. Using lean mince strips out a huge chunk of fat while keeping the protein high.

What it costs you. You lose the classic springy texture. The filling here is noticeably firmer, leaning closer to a tight meatball than a soft paste.

30g of sesame oil down to 10g

Sesame oil is glorious but very calorie dense. I keep a small amount in the filling for flavour but drop the traditional heavy drizzle over the finished bowls.

What it costs you. The broth lacks that shiny, nutty oil slick on the surface. You'll taste the chicken stock more prominently.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Pork mince
Raw prawns
Plain flour
Egg
Chicken stock
Toasted sesame oil
Light soy sauce
Spring onions
Fresh ginger
Pak choi
Black pepper

How it starts

Start by making the dumpling wrappers.
Wrap the dough in cling film and let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature so the gluten relaxes.
Peel and finely chop the ginger.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Chinese.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	449	363
Protein	26.4g	28.4g
Fat	18.5g	8.1g
Saturated fat	5g	2.1g
Carbohydrate	42.9g	43.2g
Protein per 100 kcal	5.9g	7.8g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Chinese prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. gluten, crustaceans, eggs, soybeans, sesame.

The method is in the book

This is a fantastic bowl of soup. The broth is fresh and sharp, and the dumplings deliver a massive savoury punch. Yes, the pork filling is firmer than what you'd get at a good Chinese restaurant. Lean meat simply behaves differently when boiled in a tight pastry casing. But the trade is heavily in your favour. You get all the comfort and warmth of the original dish, stacked with lean protein, without feeling like you drank a puddle of melted fat.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Chinese, along with 55 more. Buy the paperback