Crab rangoons

Let's start with a disclaimer: I don't claim to know everything about the Chinese table. Now that we get that out of the way... I've never seen crab rangoon until I arrived in the US. This isn't something we do with our crabs (this sentence doesn't sound right...). Even more surprisingly, I found that the "crab meat" is actually a surimi, a flavored fish meat. It is, however, understandable, considering how cheap this "snack" is. 

Here's my take on crab rangoon. I modified the recipe a little bit because the last time I eat real crab chowder in Indonesia (I will post the recipe later), with real crab meat, corn was added to it. I found that corn somehow highlights the sweetness of crab meat. So that's how I modified this crab rangoon recipe.

Crab rangoon

Ingredients:

1 block (8 oz.) cream cheese

1 package (8 oz.) imitation crab, chopped

1 cup frozen sweet corn, blanched, drained

1/4 cup chopped sweet onion

Wonton wrappers, as needed

Water

Oil for deep frying

Directions:

1. In a bowl, break cream cheese and whisk until soft.

2. Mix in chopped imitation crab, sweet corn, and sweet onion. Stir evenly.

3. Wrap the mixture in wonton wrappers:

• To make the flowery shape: place 1 tsp of the filling in the middle of the wrapper. Dab water on the half lines of the sides of the wonton wrapper. Tuck the half lines inward towards the filling and pinch with four fingers (your fingers should be where the wrapper is tucked).
• Simple wrap: place 1 1/2 tsp of the filling in the middle and fold the wrapper into triangle shape. Dab sides with water and press to seal.

4. Deep fry the rangoons until wonton wrappers turn golden.

Notes:

1. Make sure you tuck in tightly. If not, when you fry it, it'll splatter.

2. You don't have to use wonton wrappers and deep fry this. This can be turned to simple fancy hors d'oeuvres by using pre-made fillo dough cups. Just fill in the cups with the filling and use parsley as garnish. Of course the onion will have to be either halved or saute first, unless you like strong onion flavor.