Recipe Description
Cream cheese wonton is one of the few American inventions that has not made an inroad in Malaysia although it is hugely popular at Chinese restaurants in the United States. If crab meat or imitation crab or surimi are included in the filling, they are called crab rangoon or crab puffs.
I remember having them at a Chinese eatery next to an Oriental grocery store in Austin during my university days more than 30 years ago. It was one of those starters that we had to buy separately from the sets, which usually only consisted of a soup, an entree over rice and tea.
These tiny morsels were crispy with a creamy centre and a hint of spiciness. It came with a dipping sauce that included sriracha hot sauce, another condiment with a strong American influence. They were a bit pricey for a basket of seven wontons but we usually shared a portion among ourselves, savouring every bite.
However, these dainty appetisers are quite easy to prepare at home, so you can fry the whole batch and enjoy them with friends and family. Or you can freeze the assembled wontons and fry them later.
The wonton skins that we were able to get in the Malaysian market were paper-thin and they were excellent in giving us really crispy fried wontons. But because they were so thin, the egg wash would start to disintegrate the skins towards the end of the assembly and would cause some of the filling to burst out of the wrappers when frying. To mitigate this problem, just be careful to blanket the wrapped wontons in a tea towel to soak up the access moisture, or better still assemble as you fry them.
The key ingredient in the dipping sauce is sriracha hot sauce. This chilli sauce had originated in Thailand, brought to the US by an ethnic Chinese from Vietnam and manufactured in California using jalapeno peppers. This hot sauce is available in the Malaysian market, but you may substitute it with chilli paste or cili boh.
You may also try making crab rangoon by adding about 100 grams of minced crab meat or surimi into your filling. Bear in mind that even without the crab, this recipe is not vegan because of the cream cheese and egg wash, but vegetarians may also enjoy this if they are not too strict about it.
With the specks of red and green amidst the white cheese, this is the perfect starter for Christmas. So make a batch and celebrate the season with a profusion of colour in this fusion dish.
Recipe Ingredient
- Ingredients
- 250g cream cheese
- 3 stalks scallions, diced
- 2 sprigs cilantro, minced
- 2 red chilies, diced
- 300g wonton wrappers
- 4 cups cooking oil
- Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- ½ cup water
- Dipping Sauce
- 3 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp sriracha sauce
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- ½ tsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
Instructions
- Mix together the cream cheese, scallions, cilantro and red chilies until combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the egg and water.
- Place approximately half a teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture on one corner of a wonton wrapper.
- Roll the wrapper on a diagonal, starting with the cream cheese corner and stopping when half the wrapper is rolled and the cream cheese mixture is inside.
- Bring up the two ends and glue them together with the egg wash.
- Place the assembled wontons on a tea towel to keep them from getting too wet.
- Heat up cooking oil in a wok on high. Fry the wontons in small batches for 1 to 2 minutes, flipping midway through until they turn light golden.
- Drain off excess oil on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining batches.
- For the dipping sauce, mix together the honey, soy sauce, sriracha, vinegar and sesame oil in a small bowl and serve with the crispy fried wontons.
