DIYDS: Crab Rangoon

Welcome back to another installment of DIYDS (Do It Your Damn Self)! A series where I share DIY tips to save you money while still staying gorgeous.

To me, deep fried anything is a comfort food. And who doesn’t love comfort food? It’s good for the soul yet bad for the arteries, but it’s great to indulge once in awhile. I made some crab rangoon for LB boyfriend and me to scarf down eat while watching football.

Crab rangoon is a fried dumpling filled with cream cheese, crab, and scallions. Many Chinese restaurants serve this, but the filling is usually lacking in crab meat (it’s also not an authentic Chinese food). That’s why I love making them myself, I can stuff all the crab I want into it! It’s a pretty rich snack, but so yummy and so easy to make, it’s stupid, haha! You can make a bunch for a party or a little bit just for yourself. Here’s how to make it!

What you’ll need:

• Wonton skins. 1 package is more than enough, trust me. These can be found at most markets nowadays, but if not, try your local Asian market (if you have one in your town).
  • If the market is out of these, you can get the larger egg roll/spring roll wrappers and cut each sheet into four even squares. It saves time if you cut 3 or 4 sheets at a time. Just use a very sharp knife to avoid snagging and ripping the dough.
• 8 oz. of cream cheese (neufchatel cheese works also)
• Lump crab meat or imitation crab meat. I actually use imitation quite often as it’s much more affordable. The amount is really up to you. If you want it really meaty, add more crab. More cheesy? Use less crab.
• Chopped scallions. Again, the amount is up to you. You can leave it out all together, if you like.
• A small bowl of water to “glue” the edges of your wontons together.
• Vegetable oil for frying.
• Sweet and sour sauce or Thai sweet chili sauce for dipping. These can usually be found in the Asian foods section at you local market.

Note: 8oz. of cream cheese is enough to make anywhere between 30-40 pieces, depending on how much you fill each one.

What you do:

1. Put the cream cheese in a medium-sized bowl and microwave for 1-2 minutes to get it nice and soft.
2. Once the cheese is softened, add your crab. You can chop it up into small pieces with a knife, or just crumble it in with your (clean) hands. Then, add the scallions and mix it all up with a small spoon. Filling done!
3. Time to fill em’ up! Spoon a small amount of filling in the middle of your wonton skin. Try not to put too much filling in so it won’t pop open when you fry.
4. Using your finger, wet the outer edges of the skin and fold it diagonally, into a triangle, to seal it all up. You can leave them as triangles or make them into little “bunches” as shown in the pic. To do that, just wet the two farthest ends of your triangle and fold them together. There’s your little crabby, chessy bunch!
5. Fill and fold ’till you have your desired amount.
6. Heat up your oil and fry ’till golden brown. If you don’t want to deep fry, you can just fill a pan with a little bit of oil and fry one side at a time. Be sure to flip only once to keep from getting soggy wontons. Also, don’t crowd the pan to help keep the oil temperature from dropping too much. That also causes soggy wontons.
7. Drain your golden, fried wontons on a towel and let them cool for a bit.
8. Grab a bunch on a plate, add the sauce on the side, or just pour some sauce right over the wontons.
9. ENJOY!

See? Told ya it was easy. Let me know how it turns out if you try this!