The French, with their luscious shellfish bisques and sauces, have long known that crustacean shells are a valuable source of flavour. In this soup, the crab shells give enormous depth of flavour to a clear broth, while only a little meat is used in the wontons.
Ingredients
CRAB SHELL BROTH
4 500-gr Cooked Crab Shells (shells from 2-3 cooked sand crabs)
2 tbsp oil
1 brown onion, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, bruised
4 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 star anise
1 stalk lemon grass
4 coriander roots and stalks
1 cup dry white wine
6 cups water
coriander sprigs to garnish
PORK AND CRAB WONTONS
100 gr fatty pork mince
200 gr cooked, picked over crab meat
½ tsp white sugar
½ tsp fish sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 small garlic clove, grated
1 shallot, green part only, finely sliced
50 gr water chestnuts, diced
12 gyoza or wonton wrappers
Procedure
Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add shells and fry for a few minutes, breaking shells as much as possible. Add remaining broth ingredients, except for wine and water. Fry for 5 minutes stirring well and pressing down on ingredients with a wooden spoon to extract maximum flavour. Pour over wine, boil and stir until almost evaporated. Add water and simmer for half an hour.
Meanwhile, for the wontons, mix pork mince with sugar, sauces, garlic, shallots and water chestnuts. Gently fold in crab meat.
Spoon teaspoons onto wonton wrappers and wet edges. Fold wrappers over to enclose filling and press edges to seal. Set aside, covered with a tea towel.
Strain the broth through a sieve pressing down on ingredients to extract all the flavour. Pour into a clean saucepan and bring back to a simmer.
Without crowding the pan, poach 3-6 wontons in simmering broth for 5 minutes.
Once cooked, arrange 3 wontons per serving bowl. Pour over hot broth and serve immediately garnished with coriander sprigs and lime wedges for squeezing. Serves 4.
By Sally Jenyns
