A couple of weeks ago, I awoke to a rare sound in Southern California that had me confused about where I was for a moment… pouring rain.
I don’t mind a rainy day here and there – especially when the area is in a serious drought that has caused the water company to restrict the days that I can water my plants – and I find it especially nice to wake up to the sound of rain. I didn’t want to get out of bed, but my mind was immediately awakened to thoughts of food (surprise, surprise!), more specifically the idea of soup.
The rain stopped about 10 minutes later and the sun was shining the rest of the day, but I had made up my mind that I was in the mood for soup for dinner. Around 11 hours later, I was in the kitchen chopping broccoli and folding wonton wraps with a very attentive puppy by my side watching my every move and licking her lips. 
As a vegetarian, one of the few things I usually miss out on when dining at Asian restaurants is wonton soup – with the exception of eating at my favorite (vegan) Chinese restaurant in the entire world, Jersey’s Veggie Heaven (<–throwback post!). This night I was on a mission to take a page from Veggie Heaven’s book to create a wonton soup full of veggies and goodness, and sans any animal products.
The creation of a wonton “meat” of tofu, broccoli, shiitake mushrooms, green onions, sesame oil and soy sauce made for a yummy creation on its own, and it tasted even better tucked into wonton wraps floating in a bowl of warm vegetable broth and more veggie goodness. I made it spicy with the additional of crushed red pepper, but you can easily leave it out for a more subtle soup.
It’s officially autumn, which makes it only appropriate that my first soup recipe of the season has been born! I’ll definitely be making this soup again a few times in the next couple of months whenever I get an Asian soup craving.
Spicy Vegetable Wonton Soup
Ingredients
- 25 wonton wraps
- 8 oz tofu pressed to remove excess water*
- 1 TBSP green onions plus more for garnish
- 2 TBSP soy sauce plus more for garnish
- 1 TBSP sesame oil plus more for garnish
- 1 cup of broccoli
- 1 cup shiitake mushrooms
- 1 head of baby bok choy optional
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 cups water
- 1/4-1/2 TSP crushed red pepper
Instructions
- Using your hands, crumble the tofu up (Just kind of get in there and squish the entire block until it's all crumbled!).
- Chop the green onions and broccoli, and thinly slice the bok choy and shiitake mushrooms. Divide the broccoli and mushrooms each into 2-1/2 cups.
- Heat 1 TBSP of sesame oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the tofu, 1/2 cup of broccoli, 1/2 cup of mushrooms, green onions and 1 TBSP of soy sauce. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring a few times. Remove from heat, add another 1 TBSP of soy sauce, and mix together evenly.
- Making sure you have a sufficient workspace and a small brush with a small bowl of water handy, begin to fill the wonton wraps by spooning a small amount of the tofu mixture (about 1 TBSP) into a wrap. Next you'll want to fold and seal the wrap. How you fold it is up to you, but I used the "boat" style, which is done as follows: Fold the bottom tip to the top tip and pinch out as much air as possible. Next brush a bit of water to either of the two side tips and fold them together, overlapping one on top of the other. The end result should look boat-like, with two tips cradling a puff of filling in the middle (Don't worry about it being perfect!). Repeat the same steps for the remaining wontons.
- In a large pot, bring the vegetable broth and water to a boil. Add the sealed wontons, remaining broccoli and shiitake mushrooms and bok choy. Add 1/4-1/2 TSP of crushed red pepper, depending on your taste preference. Cook for around 5 minutes, or until wontons have floated to the surface and the broccoli is tender.
- Divide the soup into (4) bowls, garnish with green onions and a dash of soy sauce and sesame oil.
Notes
Nutrition
Tell me.. Have you eaten soup yet this month? What’s your favorite kind of soup?
Oh my gosh- this looks soo delicious!! and it just so happens its getting cooler in boston so ive been thinking about what soups i could make. I’m a big tofu fan so I love this recipe!!
Thanks Charlotte, I hope that you try this soup out!!
I know that we are only a few weeks away from the start of soup weather.
This looks good – I would probably switch the tofu for chicken just to keep the boys happy:)
Chicken should definitely work okay with this soup. Thanks, Kim!
I got soup for lunch for the first time today!! It was tomato and feta. Very good! I love the font you used on your photo!
Oooh I never use feta in soup, but it sounds like a good idea to me!
And PS – I love you for saying that you love the font on my soup photo. I was playing around in Photoshop for quite awhile with little things like fonts and strokes (still learning) and appreciate that someone noticed! 😉
Wait what?! YOU LIAR!!! It never rained in SoCal! Where on earth do you live and where on earth was I!!!!! ha ha ah!
Hahaha. Girl, there was something called a “microburst” here a few days later where it all of a sudden got crazy windy and poured for 10 minutes while the sun was still shining!
Yum this looks awesome! Sharing it with another vegetarian friend who always talks about how much she misses eating some Asian foods now 🙂
Awesome, thanks Brittney!
It actually sprinkled here this morning! I wish it would rain more so I had a reason to make this soup. It looks so good! I can always count on you for an amazing soup recipe. I can’t wait to try it!
You’re too kind, thanks Sarah!
Ugh you made the wontons AND the soup? Girl you’re making the rest of us look bad 😉 but for real this looks so hearty and delicious.
HA! Thanks Lauren. Some nights I open a carton of tomato soup from TJ’s and call it dinner, other nights this magic happens!
I don’t need to wait for a rainy day to crave for this soup. Actually I could eat this every day! Having a soup is very good for you, coming with plenty of liquids for our thirsty bodies. I like the filling you made. This is a great recipe!