Little Anne's Crab Rangoon

I see (and taste) a lot of Americanized-Asian food, and many times, I find them to be less flavorful and not as spicy as how I am accustomed to. However, I tried my first ever crab rangoon in a Thai restaurant in Seattle (and many more times in other Chinese restaurants), and I am pleasantly surprised by the unique combination of the crispy skin with the rich and creamy cream cheese filling that envelops the sweet and salty taste of the imitation crab (never tried a crab rangoon with real crab meat, perhaps you could).

And since I WAS a pretty frugal student back then, so I tried to make them my own. No regrets cause they are so heavenly!

Please pardon the various shapes. But trust me, the taste is not compromised by my poor wrapping skill.

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Serving: 25-30 rangoons

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 250 grams cream cheese (room temperature)

• 7 crab sticks (shred and cut into smaller pieces)

• 1 tbsp Hoisin sauce

• 1 stem of cilantro, chopped (I suggest to use chives, but I did not have it at home when I made this)

• Salt to taste

• Black pepper to taste

• Ready-made wanton skin (or our special Dumpling wrapper)

Preparation:

• Add the cream cheese into a bowl and fold it a couple of times to smooth it out. Next, add in the crabsticks and chopped cilantro (or chives) and mix well.

• Once everything is well combined, add in the hoisin sauce and give it another good mix.

• Adjust taste by adding black pepper and salt.

• Lay the wrapper and place the filling (as much as you want, but not too much because it would overflow), and shape the rangoon as you deem fit.

After many trials, I decided to wrap it this way.

Heat up the oil and make sure it is of the suitable temperature for frying (I usually take a wooden chopstick and dip it in the oil. If it bubbles, then you are set to fry the rangoons). Add in the rangoons and flip after about 2-3 minutes (or when it is golden, as seen below)

• Flip it again to ensure it is golden brown and take it out. Drain excess oil.

• Serve it with Thai chili sauce, plum sauce, or any of your choice of sauce.

Voila!

p/s: A healthier (less oil) alternative is to air fry them. Lightly brush cooking oil on the rangoons and air fry it @180-200 degC at about 5 mins each side (up and down).