Asian - Crab rangoons

One of our go-to flavor profiles is Asian. Patrick and I love the umami profile that is in eastern Asian dishes (not a big fan of Indian seasonings, however). At the end of the post I've included past blog posts that link back to some Asian dinner experiments. The stir fry and chicken adobo are a few we make quite a bit.

So we felt we were ready to venture out into harder Asian cuisine - enter fried rangoons. This turned out to have a high learning curve and was a fail on our part for this first time making them! Spoiler alert - all the filling burst out of the rangoons when they were fried. We trapped pockets of air into our filled rangoons which caused the fiasco. oops

Dinner Fail
We still had dinner that night and look forward to trying these again. The crab rangoons are from Michael Symon and ABC's The Chew. We served them with brown rice and Martha Stewart's Ginger garlic glazed green beans (both recipes below).

Michael Symon's Crab Rangoons from ABC's The Chew
Ingredients
vegetable oil (to fry)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 bunch scallions, finely diced
2 heaping tablespoons chopped cilantro
1/4 pound crab meat, drained and picked
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3/4 teaspoon salt + freshly ground black pepper
16 ounces mascarpone
24 2- inch wonton wrappers
cold water
sriracha (to serve)

Directions
   In a mixing bowl, combine the garlic, scallion and cilantro. Gently mix in the crab along with the soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper. Fold in the mascarpone and gently mix until everything is combined. This mix can be made a day ahead of time and kept chilled.
   Preheat oil over medium heat to 360°F.
   Setup a small bowl of cold water. Working with 2 wonton wrappers at a time, place one teaspoon of filling on to the center of each wonton using a spoon, or a piping bag. Dip your finger in the water and moisten all four edges of the wonton. Bring up 2 opposite flat edges then the other 2 opposite edges, pinching together in the center and sealing all four seams. You will end up with a four pointed star. Continue to make wontons until you’ve used all of your filling. Once the wontons are made they should be chilled in the freezer for at least an hour, until they are frozen through. When ready to use, fry for 2 minutes, until golden brown and crunchy.
   Drop 4-6 wontons at a time in to the preheated oil and fry until golden brown and crunchy. Remove to a paper towel lined tray and lightly season with salt. Serve immediately with sriracha.


Alternate folding method < we used this
Using the same method of using a damp finger to dampen the edges of the wonton, spoon a tablespoon of filling into the middle of the wonton. Fold over into a triangle and press edges to seal. With this method, they may be fried immediately.

Martha Stewart's Ginger Garlic Glazed Green Beans
Ingredients
2 teaspoons peanut or vegetable oil
1/2 inch fresh ginger, peeled and grated
3 garlic cloves, half sliced and half minced
1 pound green beans, rinsed and stemmed, with water still clinging to them
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Directions
   Heat a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the oil, ginger, and minced garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Raise the heat to medium-high, add the beans and sliced garlic, and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
   Add 1/4 cup water to the pan. Cook for another 4 minutes, partially covered. With 1 minute left, add the soy sauce and sesame oil and swirl around the pan to form a glazy sauce.


There were a few rangoons that didn't fail us and burst so we enjoyed the few that survived.

Any tips on rangoons or fried wontons?

As promised - links to past Asian posts. Asterisk denotes a favorite!

1 comment:

  1. Think I have had fried wontons at our local Chinese restaurant. Do not think rangoons are even on the menu, though. Will have to look for.

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