I used this "crispy wontons" recipe from AllRecipes.com since it was simple to follow and didn't demand any really outrageous ingredients. You make it the cuisinart, so it's pretty simple to whip up a bunch of filling and freeze some for later. The wonton wrappers really don't hold much- more like a teaspoon than a tablespoon- so your filling goes a long way. This recipe calls for pork, but I'm sure you could use beef, chicken or even shrimp. You just have to remember to leave your wonton wrappers in the fridge overnight the night before because they come frozen. As a side note, it took me a lot of looking to realize wrappers would be in the frozen food aisle- God bless the Wegman's app that gives you the aisle number of each product! Now, the wrappers dry out fast, so only lay out 2 or 3 at a time to fill- not like this photo.
pre-made wrappers are fast to use
don't get excited and lay out this many
The wrappers were actually a lot like working with filo dough, just a little more durable. You lay out your wrapper and then spoon your filling into the center, wet 2 consecutive edges of the square with water (I put some in a small bowl for ease), fold opposite corners together into a triangle, then fold in the triangle arms until you get a "home plate" shape. Wet the bottom of the triangle arms too so they will stick down to the main part of the wonton during frying.
pork filling with scallions and water chestnuts
dollop of filling
folded wontons
I made enough for George and I each to have about a half dozen, then I moved to the frightening frying stage. I used canola oil since it's supposed to be less bad for you, and you really need enough to cover the wontons here. I heated it to approximately 375 on my candy thermometer and then dropped in my wontons using my big flat scoop with holes that I usually use on pasta. I basically fried them until the top looked slightly brown and then flipped them, removing them when both sides looked slightly brown and done.
about time to flip 'em
done!
These would be good with soy sauce, your favorite asian sauce, or just dunked in egg drop soup (which is also super easy to make- the trick is to spin the soup around the pot as you're pouring the egg in to get those ribbons).
Next it was time to do a dessert wonton. I've been eyeing a recipe I got for peach wontons from Pinterest for a while, but peaches are nowhere near in season. Because it was easy and red is festive for Valetine's Day (lo these many days ago), I went with a cherry filling. You could simmer your own and make a simple syrup, yada yada, but I was busy and in a hurry, so I just bought my filling.
mmm, cherry
I am reminded of a friend's story about bugging his sister for the amazing cherry pie recipe she used to bring to Thanksgiving meals...only to discover years later that she had simply used pre-made filling- ha! Anyway, the cherries are fairly large in comparison to your wrappers, so I could only ever get 2 to 3 cherries in in little "pie." Here is the folding procedure again, with pictures:
1. fill
2. wet edges
3. triangle fold
4. home plate fold, with moistened "arms"
5. fry those little suckers!
Remove them from the oil when browned or when the filling begins to escape from the edges...whichever comes first. People at fairs have been frying pies for years now, so I thought this would be the cute, mini, quasi-asian equivalent of the fried pie. Next I added some dulce de leche I made in the crock pot (for the love of all that is holy- remember to put the water in the crock pot!!!) and some powdered sugar.
crock pot dulce de leche, with minimal effort
Tah-dah!
my mini cherry pie wontons with dulce de leche and powdered sugar
These were tasty little dessert bites and would be very good with some vanilla ice cream or fro-yo too.
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