Wonton or Rangoon?

I'm going to say... Both!

I seriously can't figure out what the true difference is between a wonton and a rangoon, except rangoons seem to be most commonly filled with crab meat. Wontons seem to usually have pork or shrimp... but where's the rule that says I can't fill a wonton wrap with crab meat and still call it a wonton?

Fun fact: Wontons are a type of dumpling found in many Chinese cuisines of soups and noodle dishes. In American Chinese cuisine they're often served as appetizers.

Anyways. I sort of created my own recipe because I couldn't find one online that I liked.

Wonton wraps
1 package Neufchatel cheese (or cream cheese)
1 can (6 ounce) shredded crab meat
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame seed oil
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

• Drain water from canned crab and mix the meat with the cheese and sauces. 
• Take about a tablespoon of the mixture and place in the middle of a wrap. Wet the sides of the wrap and then fold in half, creating a triangle. The water helps seal the wraps. 
• Makes sure wraps are sealed. If possible, "burp" out any trapped air that might get caught inside the closed wontons. 
• Heat oil in deep skillet. When a drop of water hisses, the oil is hot enough.
• Place the wontons into the hot oil and let brown on both sides. 

The result was tasty. I used Neufchatel cheese because it has 1/3 of the fat that cream cheese does. It has a sharper, more cheesy taste to than cream cheese (also not as sweet). There were some slight issues when the wraps would open in the oil, causes a LOT of hissing and splattering of the hot oil. Just be aware that hot oil looks nice and calm until it touches something it doesn't like.

My only complaint is they seemed a little too greasy. Some sites suggest places the wontons on a paper towel after removing it from the oil, so maybe that helps.

Makes roughly 15-20 wontons.

In the mean time, I am still looking up recipes for the Japanese cuisine night. I am studying the art of sushi techniques in hopes that I can create some rolls that are worth eating.

February - Great Britain

The first thing that pops to mind when I hear the term "British cuisine" is fish and chips or tea and crumpets. A little research gave me some extra options for cooking, and I was finally able to decide on my appetizer, main dish, and dessert. 




Appetizer: Yorkshire Pudding
Main Dish : Sunday Roast Beef
Dessert: Parkin

For the Yorkshire Pudding I used a recipe from AllRecipes.com that claimed to be a quick and easy pudding recipe. Compared to the other recipes I found, it seemed the least complicated.

• 1 cup milk                               3 eggs
  1 cup all-purpose flour              3 tablespoons butter

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

• In a medium bowl, beat eggs with milk. Stir in flour. Set aside.
  
  
• Divide butter evenly into the 24 cups of a muffin tin, about 1/2 teaspoon per cup. Place tin in oven to melt butter, 2 to 5 minutes. Remove tin from oven, and quickly distribute batter evenly among buttery cups.

• Reduce heat to 350 degrees F, and bake 25 minutes more or until puffed and golden.

The original recipe asked for just 2 tablespoons of butter, but since I was using the mini-muffin pan instead of a regular sized one, it required an extra tablespoon. I didn't measure the butter places in each cup, but I had just enough so when it melted there would be a thin layer for the batter to sit on. Also, since it was the smaller tin, I only used about 3/4 of the batter. You have to place the batter in the hot butter and get it back in the oven before it cools. We filled the cups a little less than half with the batter since it expands so much in the oven. 

Fun fact: I've always been a little skittish about the oven and getting burned when putting items in or taking them out. That's way that task is totally left to Jonathon.

The result was good - fluffy and buttery, but they are best when eaten immediately after baking. I was pleased they ended up looking, more or less, like the images I found online.

Yorkshire Pudding

The Roast Beef was great and something I will definitely make again! I also found this recipe from AllRecipes.com and was pleased to put my Crock Pot to use. I would fully 
recommend this to anyone with a slow cooker.

1 1/4 cups water                       
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
3 1/2 pounds pot roast              
1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix

• In a slow cooker, mix cream of mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix and water. Place pot roast in slow cooker and coat with soup mixture.
• Cook on High setting for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low setting for 8 to 9 hours.

Seriously. That's it. Just 4 ingredients and 2 steps, and you have a main dish! The soup and onion mix creates a good gravy that tastes great over the meat and Yorkshire pudding. I'll admit, the roast looks a little gross sitting in the slow cooker... but the result is SO yummy. I only have a 4 quart Crock Pot, so anything pushing 4 pounds would be too much - but if you have a larger slow cooker and bigger family to fed, just select a larger roast,and the other ratios should be fine.  

Fun fact: It's a tradition in Great Britain to have a Sunday roast with the family. It is usually served with potatoes and other vegetables, along with Yorkshire pudding.

Slice of Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding (without gravy)

In my previous entry I explained my dilemma on finding an appealing British dessert. I vetoed the spotted dick and decided to try Parkin. It's like a British hybrid of cake and gingerbread. Of the three recipes, this was probably the most difficult, but that's really not saying anything because it was still a straight forward recipe to follow. 

3/4 cup flour                                                    1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder             1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger                                    1/8 teaspoon cloves

3/4 cup oatmeal                                            3/4 cup corn syrup

1 stick of butter                                             1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg                                                      1 tablespoon milk

• Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and clovers. Blend in the oatmeal. 
• Place the syrup, butter, and sugar in a saucepan and heat until well blended. Stir into dry mixture. 
• Beat the egg with the milk and add to mixture.
• Pour into lightly greased 8-inch square cake pan. Bake at 275 degrees F for 1 1/4 hours (or until firm in the middle). Cool before serving. 

We prepared the mixture as the Yorkshire pudding was in the oven, that way I could throw it in the oven once the pudding was done. For a darker color, use dark corn syrup and dark brown sugar. The Parkin smelled great and made me think of the scents of Thanksgiving or Christmas. The top is a little crunchy, but the center is soft. The result was... eh? It's not our cup of tea. It was good, and I would recommend it if you're cooking for someone that hates chocolate or you just want a unique dessert. 
Fun fact: Parkin originated in Northern England and is traditionally eaten on Bonfire Night (November 5) but is also enjoyed year round.

Slice of Parkin

British cuisine was a success. Everything turned out well and the roast beef recipe will be saved for future meals. Now I can start preparing for next month's fun International Cuisine Night:

Spotted Dick and a lesson about Pudding.

The second International Cuisine Night is almost here, and I've been busy looking up recipes.

As a recap, February's cuisine is British and I will be making an appetizer, main dish, and dessert. Deciding on the appetizer and main dish was easy - families in Great Britain have a tradition of a Sunday roast (usually beef) with a serving of Yorkshire pudding and potatoes.

Now when most of you think of pudding, an image similar to this probably comes to mind:

Mmmm - American chocolate pudding

But in Great Britain, the term pudding can mean any type of sweet dish served after a main course. The fun thing about the Yorkshire pudding is that it can be used as a dessert or a side dish with beef roast. At one point in history it was used as an appetizer to make people more full before the main course (back when meat was difficult to come by and was in smaller portions). This is what Yorkshire pudding is expected to look like:

Yorkshire pudding

I lucked out and might be getting a family Yorkshire pudding recipe from one of Jonathon's British co-workers. I'm hoping I get the recipe in time, but I might not. It is hand written and the gentleman's mum is typing it up for me. If I don't get it by Sunday I'll use another source for the recipe. However, I will still use the family's recipe later on to compare the results.

As for dessert, I'm having a devil of a time figuring out what to make. I want something that appeals to me, but most of the British desserts consist of cakes with dried fruit. Ick. Which brings me to the catchy entry title: spotted dick. I seriously thought it was a dish made from a poor animal's genitalia, but as it turns out it is not made by that. At all (Thank God). It's just another type of British pudding. It's called spotted due to the dried fruit pieces, and dick because... well, I can't find a consistent answer anywhere for that. My best guess is that it started as an inside joke for some giggles, but then got way out of hand and was never corrected.

Spotted Dick

As amusing as it might be for me to make a spotted dick, I've decide to keep searching for a dessert that doesn't require raisins or such nonsense.


Fun fact: I totally held my breath when I did a Google Image Search for spotted dick.