Crab Rangoon

One of my favorite appetizers when ordering chinese are these tasty little deep-fried dumplings, which are served in American Chinese cuisine in North America, and more recently, Thai cuisine. The filling is a yummy concoction of cream cheese, lightly flaked crab meat, scallions and garlic all snuggled in a cozy little wonton wrapper. These tasty little treats are also known as cream cheese wontons.

The history of crab rangoon is unclear, as cream cheese as well as any other cheese, is essentially nonexistent in Chinese cuisine. A "Rangoon crab a la Jack" was created as a dish at a Hawaiian-style party in 1952, and has also been on the menu of the "Polynesian-style" restaurant Trader Vic's in San Francisco since at least 1957, which is supposedly from a Burmese recipe and probably invented there.

I had all the ingredients sitting around, just waiting to be intermingled with one another. I like to make the whole batch, put them in the freezer and pull some out whenever we crave a little deep fried goodness. So cheers to yet another yummy treat!

Wine Pairing: An American Riesling or White Alsatian would be crisp and refreshing.

Crab Rangoon

makes 35

Ingredients

4 oz softened cream cheese

1 small can crabmeat drained

3 diced scallions
1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp worchestershire sauce

35 wonton wrappers

1 egg white

enough oil for deep frying

sweet chili dipping sauce

Directions

Combine first 5 ingredients thoroughly. Place 1 tsp of crab and cheese mixture in the center of wrapper. Brush all edges with egg white and fold over one corner to opposite corner making a triangle and pressing gently to seal, or you can make little pouches by grabbing all four corners up together and crimping with a twist. Seal with more egg white if necessary. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and crabmeat mixture.

Heat the oil for deep frying in a wok or a deep pan to 350-375 degrees, or until a cube of bread browns in 30 seconds. Add the wontons in batches, and cook till crisp and golden brown on all sides, approx 2-3 minutes. Remove and place on paper towels to drain. Keep warm while you cook the remaining wontons. Serve with sweet chili dipping sauce.

Note: To prevent the wonton wrappers from drying out as you work with them, keep them in a pile and covered with a damp towel.

Enjoy!