Tips For Making Crab Rangoon
1 - Surimi or faux crab is actually better than real crab for this dish. The reason is that crab is often packed in brine or with a bit of liquid and this will make the mixture too soft, even if you drain the crab well. I made a batch with real crab and honestly the mixture was too wet and sloppy.
2 - I used square won ton wrappers but you can also use round wonton wrappers if that is what you have. Yellow egg wrappers are also fine. One thing that is important is that the wrappers are fresh and unopened. I find that ones that are frozen and then thawed or already open have small cracks on the edges and don't seal properly. Make sure to cover the stack of wrappers while you are making them so they don't dry out. If you use round wrappers made them into a three sided wonton instead of the four pointed star.
3 - I seal the rangoons with egg wash as I find it gets a better seal. Make sure to seal these really well and pinch all corners because if the filling leaks it will start spitting and that's no fun. I sealed all of these really well and used fresh, just-opened pastry and surimi and I got zero spitting.
4 - My pro tip: freeze your rangoons for 15 minutes before frying them! This means that the filling (which is already cooked), doesn't melt as quickly and the freezing gives the rangoons 2 minutes to fry and become golden before the cream cheese starts to melt.
5 - You can also make these in the air fryer or in a fan forced oven. They won't be quite as crispy but they'll still be tasty.
6 - Usually I find deep fried food isn't as tasty cold but the only exceptions to this rule are fried chicken and crab rangoons which are still delicious when served cold the day after!
If you want to make a dip version of Crab Rangoon that is super easy to make, try this Crab Rangoon Dip!
While we don't get crab rangoon here, I actually first heard of them via this Twitter meme last Halloween. It was so funny and cute that I went down a rabbit hole looking up crab rangoons. I decided that I might make these for trick or treaters this year. Last year we had so many kids knocking on our door. Mr NQN especially loved handing out candy so I left it to him. But when I brought up the idea of leaving a bowl of these crab rangoons with sweet chilli sauce out for the kids he vetoed it straight away. He clearly doesn't want to go down on the street as a legend!
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever tried crab rangoon? Do you get trick or treaters for Halloween?
Crab Rangoon
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 20 minutes plus 15 minutes freezing time
Cooking time: 2 minutes per batch
Makes 25 crab rangoons
- 275g/9.7ozs surimi, thawed
- 2 green onion sticks, tendrils trimmed
- 125g/4oz cream cheese
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 25 square wonton wrappers
- Small egg, beaten for sealing
- Oil for frying
- Sweet chilli sauce to serve
Step 1 - Place the surimi and green onions in a food processor and blend until chopped finely. Add the cream cheese, Worcestershire sauce, ginger, garlic powder, salt, sugar and white pepper and pulse until combined.
Step 2 -Line a baking tray with parchment and make enough room in your freezer to fit this tray. Open up the won ton pastry and cover with a damp tea towel. Whisk a small egg and have a pastry brush ready. Take out 3-4 pastry skins at a time and brush around the outer square. Place a round teaspoon of filling in the centre and gather two opposing corners up and seal.
Take the other two opposing corners and seal these up making sure to pinch firmly on all seals and making a four point square. Place on the tray and repeat until all rangoons are made. Slide this tray into the freezer and freeze for 15 minutes.
Step 3 - Heat 2 inches oil in a wok or frying pan until it reaches 180C/350F. Line a plate with a double layer of paper towels. Carefully place the rangoons in the hot oil but do not overcrowd (I fried around 7 at a time) and fry for 1 minute, then turn over and fry for 1 more minute. Place on paper towel lined plate. Serve hot or cold with sweet chilli sauce.