Here’s the Secret Behind Jet Tila’s Wonton Soup — Like Grandma Used to Make

Jet Tila grew up cooking with a very important person in his life: his Cantonese grandmother. As his primary caretaker, Jet’s grandma was a big influence in the Ready Jet Cook chef’s life — and, of course, in the kitchen. One of the duo’s very favorite dishes to make together? Wonton soup, which, according to Jet, is the only dish better than wontons all on their own. This particular recipe instantly transports Jet back to his childhood days of visiting Chinatown dim sum restaurants with his grandmother. And now he’s letting us all in on their cherished method by showing us how to make it.

Shopping Tips From Jet

The first (and sometimes most daunting) step to making wonton soup is buying the right ingredients.

• Picking the wrapper: Wrappers in particular — whether for wontons, egg rolls or gyoza — can be tricky. Wontons are typically served as an appetizer or in a soup, so the wrappers are thinner and the fillings are more delicate than their heartier dumpling counterparts. Jet’s expert tip: Buy wonton wrappers that are square in shape. (He prefers the more colorful, yellow ones.)
• Getting your greens: Your next stop at the grocery store is to enter the world of Chinese leafy greens. For wonton soup, baby bok choy is Jet’s choice. He explains that, when cooked in a stir-fry or soup, the veggie still maintains a good crunch and a slightly sweet spinach-like flavor, which is exactly what you’ll need. When choosing your baby bok choy, look for whole, full bulbs without any breakage in the leaf or stem. The vegetable should have an even color tone. Give it a little squeeze — if it doesn’t give much, you’ve got a winner. If it’s at all mushy, it’s probably too old (so keep looking).

It’s Broth Time

You’ve shopped for your key ingredients. Now, it’s time to get that broth going. This particular broth, according to Jet, is a quick stock recipe, no chicken bones necessary — just like how Chinese restaurants do it. Jet brings the water to a simmer, rather than a full boil, and adds a few aromatic ingredients like ginger and scallions. Adding just a bit of both will give your broth, according to Jet, “a perfume like no other.”

The chef has a special method for grating ginger in this situation, involving a couple kitchen tools almost everyone has on hand: a box grater and some plastic wrap. You’ll begin by tightly covering the smooth, smaller holes of the grater with plastic wrap, followed by lightly rubbing the ginger back and forth on it. This will give you pure ginger pulp without any fibers, which is exactly what we want for this dish. After that, Jet adds three additional ingredients to finish off the broth: a tiny bit of sesame oil (to further complement the aroma), some chicken powder and a little oyster sauce.

This broth works for more than just wonton soup, too. It’s also great for egg drop, Tom Yum and other Chinese soups.

Creating the Perfect Wonton Filling

As the broth simmers for around 10 minutes, Jet prepares the filling for the wontons, which entails combining coarsely ground pork, additional ginger and cut-up shrimp. Each wonton should contain big chunks of meat, so there’s no need to finely chop the shrimp. Rather, cut the shrimp into quarter-inch pieces; the more uneven and mealy, the better. Once the pork and shrimp are mixed, add in some (very) thinly sliced scallions. This may seem odd to Ready Jet Cook fans — who know Jet likes to buy his scallions presliced — but this situation calls for it. Thin slices of scallion will more easily fold into the meat mix rather than stand out.

Finally, it's time to add what Jet refers to as a total “flavor bomb”: mushroom powder (and a little sugar), which gives the filling a salty, delicious umami flavor. Jet also adds cornstarch to help the ingredients stick together, as well as some white pepper and premium soy sauce. He prefers premium soy sauce as it’s brewed rather than hydrolyzed. (And don’t worry, the label will clarify if it's brewed.) Finally, Jet adds a bit of oyster sauce and sesame oil for aromatic purposes, and the filling is ready to chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.

Wrapping It All Together

This is the part where it really gets nostalgic for Jet, as some of his earliest food memories involve making wontons with his grandma. As early as 3 years old, they would sit together at the kitchen table wrapping. And just as he did with Grandma, Jet continues the tradition today with his own family. He and his wife, Ali, wrap wontons with their kids while sitting around their dinner table.

Jet's wrapping tips: Wrappers should be chilling under a moist towel until it’s time to use them. Be sure to have a little bowl of water ready. "You want to create a little golden purse," Jet explains. This is done by wetting the edges of the wrapper with water from your bowl and placing a teaspoon of the chilled filling in the middle of it. Bring two edges together to create a triangle. Then, bring the remaining two sides together to form a little pouch. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but as long as the wrapper seals in the filling, you're good to go.

Boil Away

At this point, it’s time to boil these bad boys. Jet suggests having two quarts of water boiling before tossing in your wontons for one to two minutes. Stir them around a bit, ensuring they don’t stick to each other or the bottom of the pot. As they cook, Jet likes to throw a bit of baby bok choy, with the bottoms removed, into the mix for a quick blanching until they’re bright green and the stems give a bit. When the wontons start to float after a couple minutes, that’s how you know they’re ready. Remove them and the baby bok choy from the water and place them into a bowl. Jet likes to use eight wontons in one bowl since the Chinese word for “eight” rhymes with the Chinese word for “luck.”

After removing the ginger and scallions from the separately cooked broth, pour it over the wontons and baby bok choy. Jet sprinkles a little more scallions and white pepper on top, and, bam, it’s wonton soup, just like Grandma used to make — rich, comforting and an instant classic. For the perfect bite, fill your spoon with some broth, an umami-packed wonton and a leafy, sweet piece of baby bok choy. Enjoy!