Last week was Christmas. A couple of days earlier I was making my last dash through the grocery store when I found myself next to a woman frowning at the mainstream condiments. She seemed stressed.
She asked me if I saw the sweet chili sauce. I told her it was on the international aisle with Asian foods. She confessed she was making crab rangoon dip for Christmas Eve, even though she’d never eaten crab rangoon personally. I told her she was very brave to make a recipe for the first time for a party. She said it was her brand-new son-in-law’s favorite and she was determined to make it. How sweet is that?
Deep-fried crab rangoon is pretty popular around my house, too. We frequently add it to takeout orders, and we like it so much I’ve even made it myself, which is a bit of a pain. I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve never thought to turn crab rangoon into a dip. I must be losing my edge. It turns out there are plenty of food bloggers out there who haven’t lost theirs, though; Crab Rangoon Dip recipes abound.
Crab rangoon was almost certainly first served in the 1950’s at the Trader Vic’s in the Beverly Hilton Hotel. You know, that upscale tiki bar and restaurant where Frank Sinatra hung out, at the intersection of Wiltshire and Santa Monica Boulevards? Anyway, the delightfully creamy and crispy appetizer quickly spread up and down the Pacific coast, then to the rest of the country. Like so many of Trader Vic’s inventions, crab rangoon has remained popular ever since.
Anyway, some of the crab rangoon dip recipes online call for imitation crab. Some call for canned crab. I even saw one recipe insisting nothing but fresh backfin lump crab would do. (As if!) I used two 5 oz. cans of crab. Feel free to substitute a similar amount of imitation crab–or even the really good stuff–as you prefer.
As you’d expect, nearly all the recipes called for cream cheese. I know that cream cheese isn’t particularly scoopable at typical party dip temperatures. Too-firm dip is a party foul waiting to happen if you’re using fragile wonton chips, which you definitely should. So I made my Crab Rangoon Dip with a 4 oz. package of mascarpone and 4 oz. of cream cheese.
And those wontons? You’ll find them refrigerated in the produce department near the tofu and such. Cut them in half and fry them in a heavy-bottomed skillet in about ½” of hot oil. It won’t take more than a couple of minutes per batch, and you can do the wonton part a few hours ahead.
So fancy, so easy, so yum! I hope that lady’s new son-in-law had a marvelous Christmas Eve!
Crab Rangoon Dip
Equipment
- a heavy-bottomed pot for frying wontons
- a long-handled slotted spoon or spider
Ingredients
- 2 5 oz cans crabmeat, drained well
- 4 oz. mascarpone cheese
- 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1 scallion, sliced, green part only
- 2 t. Worcestershire sauce
- ½ t. garlic powder
- 1 t. lemon zest
- a pinch each salt and pepper
- 1 package wonton wrappers
- oil for frying
- salt for sprinkling on hot wontons
- sweet chili sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Combine crab, mascarpone, cream cheese, scallion, Worcestershire, and garlic powder. Mix well. Put in a small casserole dish an bake fo 15 minutes.
- While the dip is baking, fry the wontons. Using a sharp knife cut the wonton wrappers in half. Heat oil into a heavy-bottomed skillet to 350°, or until a wooden spoon dipped in the oil gets covered with bubbles immediately. Turn the heat down just a little to maintain the temperature.
- Working in batches, fry the wontons a few at a time. As soon as the edges begin to brown, flip them over. They will brown very quickly, and they will brown even faster on the second side. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt.
- To serve, spoon sweet chili sauce on top of the dip. Serve at room temperature with fried wontons.
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