Kung Hei Fat Choi is the Chinese term for their New Year, and this happened just a couple of days ago. Here I am not yet even finished with listing my goals for the coming year, when another kind of New Year steps in. Anyway, because of this, we had a celebration at my son’s house with the Chinese New Year as motif. And one of the dishes presented was shomai, which was a pork shrimp concoction wrapped in wonton.
When the shomais were done, there was still two cups of filling left, thus my daughter in law thought of a way to improvise. She took out phylo dough from the fridge, wrapped up some shiomai filling and baked it for a couple of minutes. I did say it came out as a very creative dish and did not loose its savor. As a matter of fact, it made it more nutritious when baked as against steaming. It had a crispy end with lots of meat to be savored.
And so when I saw a friend posting pictures of Chinese food with fried wontons and my daughter in-law with her phylo dough creation, an idea struck me. I decided to switch my recipe of baked puff pastry spinach gruyere into fried wonton spinach gruyere. Sohere’s the recipe: (actually you are getting two recipes) I just wanted to be creative.
1 cup mushroom- 3 tbsp. Butter
- 1 c. Gruyere Cheese grated
- 1 pack 8 oz. Frozen spinach thawed
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 pack of 25 pcs square wonton wrappers or 1 pack puff pastry
- oil for frying
Filling: Place pan on stove over medium heat. Melt the butter and sauté mushroom for 5 minutes. Press out as much water off the spinach. In a large bowl, place the cooked mushroom, the spinach and the gruyere cheese. Add Salt and Pepper to taste. Mix until combined.
Recipe 1: (using puff pastry) Spray oil on a cookie sheet. Set aside. Thaw out puff pastry. Make the filling as mentioned above Sprinkle a little flour on the table before spreading the thawed out puff pastry. Spread the filling evenly on the rolled out pastry. Roll tightly into a log, making sure that there are no spaces inside when you roll it. Then cut into thin round circles. Place the circles on tray. Place the cut up circles on the tray and bake for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Serve.
Recipe 2 (with wonton)
Get one sheet of wonton wrapper and place it like a diamond in front of you. Rub the sides with water or egg whites. Place filling at the center and form it like a log. With the pointed tip nearest you, cover the filling until just until slightly concealed. Then fold the opposite edges towards the filling and roll everything until it reaches the other tip. Seal well. This forms like a mini cigarette.
Continue with the remaining wontons and heat oil in pan. Fry the wontons in batches until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve with your favorite dip. Enjoy.
And if you want to make this out as an appetizer or as a snack, don’t forget to purchase your cheese at the best cheese shop in town, the Ideal Cheese Shop. And I made two recipes for you today. Didn’t I just say I experienced two New Years within this month? Well it’s a good way to start. Happy Chow!
Every year, I try to set a goal for myself and more often than not, when I try to line up the activities for the year, it would turn out to newer projects which would not be part of the original plan. And before I know it, all my goals for the year would have been replaced by new ones as they unfold. Such has been the case from many many years past. And to be open to these directions will often lead to a more adventurous life.
