Crab Rangoon

When I first moved back to Milwaukee nearly eight years ago, our first visit after driving hours upon hours from Dallas, Texas, was a Chinese restaurant called China Palace. The menu was quite large, the atmosphere was laid back, and two things stood out. The first was our waitress who was overly nice and would also say ‘Thank You’ to any of our requests. The second was the crab rangoon. I cannot say that I had a crab rangoon prior to China Palace, but what I took away from it was how much my wife loved the crab rangoon. I later found out that one of my coworkers, one who seldom dines at our local Chinese buffet restaurant, as we define a Pink Poo Palace, loves the crab rangoon, possibly more so than that of my wife.

Ever since I saw the delight coming from my wife based on the delicious flavor of the crab rangoon, I knew I had to make them. With that said, we stopped eating at the China Palace, possibly due to the fact that we moved into the suburbs, but also likely that I mastered the crab rangoon.

The recipe is super easy to make and can be massaged into whatever flavors you see fit. For example in my last batch, I added more green onion as I was looking for a more punchy flavor to go with my Thai beef.

Ingredients:

• Cream Cheese (room temperature)
• 2 cloves chopped Garlic
• 1-2 Green Onion or scallions
• Flaked crab meat, or imitation crab
• Wonton Wrappers
• Egg wash
• Oil

To begin, add the cream cheese (1 package), garlic, onion, and crab meat into a food processor. You will combine and break this down into a course paste. Once combined, bring it out into a bowl. Break an egg, only reserving the egg white, then lightly beat. Now you are ready to wrap. Now keep in mind that you can also wrap these any way you want. My wife likes them balled up, then twisted, much like a traditional rangoon, however this time around, I simply folded them into triangular shapes. No one seemed to complain. 🙂

Add about one tablespoon of the mixture into the middle of the wonton. Brush on egg wash around the edges of the wonton, and fold over to make a tight seal. Continue to do this for all of your rangoons. When you are ready, heat a medium pan on medium to high heat and add enough of your cooking oil so that the rangoons will fry evenly. Once the oil is heated (test by adding a corner of one of the rangoons into the oil and if it begins to fry, you are ready), add a few of the rangoons. You do not want to add too much as you do not want them to stick together, so be mindful of that. Fry them until golden brown, then remove and let drain on paper towel. Transfer to your serving dish and serve with a nice sweet and sour sauce, gingered soy sauce, or heck, no sauce at all. Enjoy.