Thai Mushroom Soup with Crispy Wontons

Ingredients

For the soup

• 125g shiitake mushrooms
• 1500ml vegetable stock
• 2 stalks lemongrass finely chopped
• 4 cm piece ginger peeled and finely chopped
• 1½ tbsp lime juice
• 4 kaffir lime leaves
• 1½ tbsp soy sauce
• 100g chestnut mushrooms sliced
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 large clove garlic crushed
• 1½ tbsp sweet chilli sauce

For the wontons

• 60g shiitake mushroom tops (use stalks in soup stock) diced
• 75g pressed tofu finely diced
• 2 spring onions finely chopped
• 1½ tsp red chilli
• 1 tsp ginger finely chopped
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 30g vegan margarine melted
• 100g filo pastry (leave the filo in its packet until ready to use as it may dry and be difficult to use without cracking)

For the garnish

• 2 sprigs fresh coriander
• ½ red chilli finely chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C / gas mark 4.
2. Take stalks out of shiitake mushrooms and reserve caps.
3. Put stock into a saucepan together with the shiitake stalks (add stalks from shiitake mushrooms used in wontons), lemon grass, ginger, lime juice, lime leaves and shoyu.
4. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain, reserving liquid and discarding vegetables. Return liquid to pan and reheat.
5. Add sliced shiitake mushroom caps to the pan and simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile sauté the garlic and sliced chestnut mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of oil, stirring all the time, until the mushrooms are softened. Add mushrooms and garlic to the pan together with sweet chilli sauce.
6. Mix first six wonton ingredients together. Melt the vegan margarine. Cut filo into twelve 10cm squares. Make an 8 pointed filo star – by placing one square of filo on your work surface brush with a little melted margarine then place a second square on top rotated 45° to create your star. Brush with a little more margarine.
7. Put 1 tbsp wonton mixture in the centre of the filo star and draw up edges and twist to make a money bag. Brush the outside with more margarine. Place on baking tray lined with baking parchment. Repeat until you have 6 wontons.
8. Bake in oven for about 7-10 minutes until golden and crisp.
9. To serve: Reheat soup and pour into 6 warmed small soup bowls. Just before eating, place a wonton in the centre of each and garnish with coriander sprigs and red chilli.