P.F. Chang’s is an Asian restaurant concept founded on making food from scratch every day in every restaurant. Created in 1993 by Philip Chiang and Paul Fleming, (of Fleming’s Steak House) P.F. Chang’s (Paul Fleming’s initials, see what thy did there?) is the first multi-unit restaurant concept in the U.S. to honor and celebrate the 2,000-year-old tradition of wok cooking as the center of the guest experience. Today there are over 300 locations, worldwide.
These hand-folded “wontons” are actually closer to a Rangoon. According to the all-mighty Google, “wontons are a typical Chinese and Cantonese dish, filled with meat and are more often boiled. Rangoons originate from South Asian countries and are deep-fried dumplings and are usually stuffed with crab and cream cheese”. And since this appetizer is, indeed, filled with crab, cream cheese, and fried, I suppose that technically makes them a Rangoon. But whatever, I didn’t name them.
Don’t stress out if you can’t seem to get the fold perfectly right. As you can see, mine don’t “quite” look like P.F. Chang’s, but they taste exactly like them…and that what counts! And make sure to spend time on the plum sauce, it goes so, so well with these fried little delights.
Serve with P.F. CHANG’S Chicken Lettuce Wraps and P.F. CHANG’S Mongolian Beef and Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 6 oz. canned crabmeat, picked through for shells and cartilage
- 6 oz. cream cheese, very softened
- 1 TBL Red bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1 TBL scallion, green part only, finely chopped
- 4 cranks of black pepper
- Pinch of Kosher Salt
- 14 wonton wrappers, 5”x5”
- Peanut or Canola oil for frying
- Spicy Plum Sauce:
- 1 cup store bought Plum Sauce
- 2 TBL rice vinegar
- 1 tsp. fresh ginger, grated
- 1 tsp. fresh garlic, grated
- 2 tsp. crushed red pepper flake
Instructions
Mix all plum sauce ingredients together and refrigerate until use.
Mix well the crab, cream cheese, bell pepper, scallion, and salt/pepper.
If the wonton wrapper is larger than 5”x 5”, cut down to size. Place wonton on counter diagonally and put one heaping TBL of mixture onto center of wrapper. Dip your finger in a ramekin of water to act as a “glue”. Wet the right and left points of the wrapper and pull up to the center and “glue” together. Repeat the process with the top and bottom points. Pull the 4 corners of the wrapper out tightly and “glue” them together so that the mixture is full encased in the wonton wrapper, and you have a wonton that is shaped like a 4-leaf clover. Watch the FULL VIDEO INSTRUCTIONS below for help.
In a wok or very large sauté pan, heat 3 inches of oil to 350 degrees. Once oil is 350, carefully drop the wontons into the fry oil in small batches (about 3 at a time), using a slotted spoon. Do not over-fuss the frying wontons to prevent the wrapper from breaking and the filling to escape into the oil. Deep fry the wonton until the wrapper becomes a nice golden-brown color, about 2 minutes. Remove from the oil and set aside to drain. Repeat the process until all wontons are golden brown.
To Plate: spread the Spicy Plum Sauce across the entire surface of a plate and place the wontons directly onto the sauced plate.
FULL VIDEO TUTORIAL
