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Nut-Free
Skill Level: Beginner/Intermediate
Yield: 15 wontons
Prep Time: 25-30 minutes
Cook Time: 5-7 minutes
Equipment Needed:
Wooden spoon or rubber/silicone scraper
The Recipe:
Ingredients:
For the Sweet and Sour Sauce:
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 cup pineapple juice
For the wontons:
4 ounces (half of a block) cream cheese, softened
1/8 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 green onion (green and white parts), minced
1 dill pickle spear, diced small
2 slices of deli ham, cut or torn into small pieces OR cut into ribbons (see tips below)
1/2 teaspoon corn starch
3 tablespoons warm water
15 wonton skins
4-5 cups canola oil
Procedure:
Make the Sweet and Sour sauce:
Whisk together the brown sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan.
Add the rice vinegar, soy sauce, ketchup, and pineapple juice to the pan; whisk everything together.
Heat over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer, stirring often (be sure to scrape whisk into sides and bottom of pan so you are not left with a patch of dry ingredients anywhere).
Simmer until the mixture has noticeably thickened (this will only take 3-5 minutes), and remove from heat. Allow to cool slightly while you prepare the wontons.
Make the wontons:
Use an electric mixer to whip the cream cheese in a mixing bowl for 30-60 seconds.
Add the sugar, salt, minced green onion, diced pickle, and ham pieces to the whipped cream cheese and mix thoroughly by hand.
Combine the 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch and 3 tablespoons warm water in a small bowl.
Take one wonton skin and set it on a plate or work surface. Use a small cookie scoop (if available) or two spoons to add about 1/2-1 tablespoon of the cream cheese filling to the center of the wonton wrapper.
Dip your pointer finger into the water/cornstarch mixture and trace a line along two edges of the wonton skin (it doesn't really matter which two, but they should be connected).
Fold the wonton in half to form a triangle, connecting the two sides you lined with the water/cornstarch mixture with the two sides you didn't line. Before you press the edges together, use your finger to press tightly around the lump of cream cheese mixture, pressing the two sides of the wonton skin together as tightly as you can to seal in the cream cheese mixture and eliminate as much air as possible (this will make your wontons easier to flip in the oil).
Once you have sealed in the cream cheese mixture, press your fingers along the two edges to form a tight seal.
Bring the two corners of your triangle that are opposite each other together. Add a little of the cornstarch/water mixture to one of the corners, then press them together tightly.
Set your completed wonton aside and repeat with remaining wonton skins and cream cheese mixture. I like to keep my prepared wontons on a parchment-lined cookie sheet until I'm ready to fry them.
Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium to medium-high heat until it reaches 350 degrees Fahrenheit. You want the oil to come at least 2 inches up the side of your pan, so you may need to adjust the amount of oil you're using accordingly depending on the width of your pan. Try to maintain this temperature; if you accidentally allowed the oil to heat way past 350 degrees, turn down the heat and/or CAREFULLY remove the pan from the heat and let it cool down, or the oil will be too hot and your wontons will get really dark brown really fast.
Line a plate with a paper towel or two and have it sitting near your stove.
Carefully add 5 wontons to the oil. Don't drop them in from high above, or you will risk being splattered with the hot oil. I bring mine just above the surface of the oil and release, quickly pulling my hand back as I do to avoid any pops that may immediately occur.
Allow wontons to cook for 10-15 seconds, then use a strainer or slotted spoon to peek underneath one wonton. If they look nice and golden, it's time to flip them over. Use your spoon or strainer to roll the wontons over. If your wontons have air in them, this will be tricky because they won't want to flip. One solution for this that I have found is to coax the wonton(s) over, then immediately put my strainer right underneath them and hold them with the second side in the oil (see photo below). This allows the second side to turn golden if the wontons are being difficult and don't want to stay on that second side.
Once wontons look golden and beautiful (this should only take 15-20 seconds or so per side), transfer them to your paper towel lined plate to drain off excess oil.
Repeat this process two more time with your remaining prepared wontons.
To Serve: Serve your wontons alongside your sweet and sour sauce for dipping. These make a super tasty appetizer or snack, but I also love serving wontons with fried rice. If you like a little spice, try drizzling your wontons with chili oil.
Adjusting for your diet: These wontons are easily made vegetarian by omitting the ham. You could also eliminate the pickle too for more of a "classic" cream cheese wonton; but I do recommend keeping the salt, sugar, and green onion because they add nice flavor.
Tips:
The yield of this recipe can easily be increased if you are making these for a crowd; you will just be folding and frying for a longer period of time.
This is a GREAT recipe for those who are new to deep frying! There will be very little chance of big spatters, and you don't need a whole big pan filled to the top with oil. You also don't have to worry about your wontons reaching a certain temperature for food safety; you can just look for those visual cues that your wontons are ready to flip or are done.
Once your wontons are in the oil, do not walk away! These cook up VERY fast.
You will notice that homemade sweet and sour sauce is quite a bit darker than store bought. I promise it will taste just as good (most likely better) than the neon stuff you find in a store or at a restaurant!
There are lots of different ways you can fold wontons, as a quick Internet search will show you. I have tried a few of them, and this one was by far the easiest in my opinion.
Safflower oil, peanut oil, or any other neutral oil with a high smoke point can be substituted for the canola oil (do not substitute olive oil). The smoke point of oil refers to the temperature at which it stops shimmering and starts smoking.
This is really the only thing I use pineapple juice for, so I buy a 6-pack of little cans to keep on hand for sweet and sour sauce. The small can is exactly one cup!
When I make these, I cut my ham slices into ribbons by stacking them on top of one another, rolling them up tightly, and then slicing. This works great, but as mentioned in the recipe you could just as easily cut or tear the ham into little pieces too.
As mentioned in the recipe, do your best to get as much air out of your wonton as possible to aid you in flipping your wontons during the cooking process.
I usually use full fat cream cheese (I figure if I'm already splurging and having wontons, I might as well do it right), but you could definitely substitute low fat cream cheese.
If you buy whipped cream cheese you can skip the step of whipping with an electric mixer. Whipped cream cheese does tend to be more expensive, so if you haven't already bought your cream cheese, I do recommend buying the block and just whipping it yourself.
Wonton time is play time! Mess around with different flavors of sweet or savory cream cheese (dessert wontons, anyone??), choose your own add-ins, become the wonton inventor you were born to be!
The Story:
If you were born and raised in the great state of Minnesota, you have likely encountered Minnesota Sushi at a summer BBQ or potluck. For anyone who is not familiar, Minnesota Sushi is made by taking a slice of deli ham, slathering it with cream cheese, placing a dill pickle in line with one long end of the ham, rolling it up like a sushi roll, and then slicing into bite-sized pieces. Minnesota Sushi has no business being delicious or even edible, but if ya know, ya know: it totally is! You have the saltiness of the ham, the creamy decadence of the cream cheese, and the acidity of the pickle, and it all just...works.
I have been honing my wonton-making skills this fall/winter. Cream cheese wontons are something we have actually made in our Foods One classes at school because we have little countertop deep fryers, and the kids love them. I would always walk through the foods room and accept samples, but I never really worked on my wonton technique while at work. I adore cream cheese wontons, so this seemed like a good year to take them on at home.
I used our basic formula from school, which was cream cheese, minced green onion, and a pinch of sugar, but added salt and then as mentioned in the tips, I played around with a few folding techniques. I definitely found the more wontons I folded, the easier the whole process became.
Just before New Years, I had an epiphany that was the Minnesota Wonton (I swear it came to me in a dream); turning Minnesota's time-honored potluck offering into a deep fried delight. If you have visited the Minnesota State Fair, you know we love to deep fry everything, so this all seemed very logical and copasetic to me.
I made these as a fun little appetizer on New Year's Eve for the fam and I; we enjoyed them while we played Pass The Pigs. Crispy, crunchy, creamy, melty, salty, with a touch of acidity, these little guys are really the whole package. They were SO tasty. I know I ate at least half of them, maybe more :)
Just a little time and effort produces BIG flavors and textures with these delicious Minnesota wontons and sweet and sour sauce. I hope you give them a try!!
Happy tasting!
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