Asian Slaw Won Tons

This yummy appetizer's inspiration came from a Vietnamese Spring roll recipe I found at www.epicurious.com, and came from Bon Apettit, Feb, 2003. 

Of course, I had to change it up a bit. Rice paper sheets can be tough to work with, and I'm not terribly enthused about a tedious, and very time consuming process. So, I subbed won ton papers, baked them off, and filled them. 

Here goes:

For the slaw:

1/2 box (4) ounces Thai thin rice noodles, boiled for 5 minutes, drained and chopped

1/2 head Napa cabbage, thinly sliced

1 red and one orange pepper, very thinly sliced into matchstick size

1 & 1/2 cup bean sprouts, chopped coarsely

1 English cucumber, seeded and sliced into matchstick size

1 large carrot, peeled and grated

4 green onions, sliced thinly

1 cup fresh mint leaves, finely chopped

1 cup fresh basil, finely chopped

1 cup fresh cilantro finely chopped

1 pound cooked, peeled, deveined shrimp, tails on 

For the Sauce:

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 cup sugar

3 Tbls fermented fish sauce (Nam Pla)

2 Tbls rice vinegar

2 Tbls fresh cilantro, chopped fine

4 garlic cloves, pressed through a garlic press

1 Tbls garlic chili sauce

1 tsp crushed red pepper 

1 tsp sriracha sauce

Method: 

Combine all sauce ingredients in a bowl large enough to hold the shrimp, and whisk until the sugar is dissolved.

Taste. Re season to your liking. If you want more heat, add a pinch more crushed red pepper. Not sweet enough, add a bit more sugar. Not tangy enough, add a splash more rice vinegar.

For the Won Ton cups: 

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees (F).

Start with one package of Won Tons. You can find them in the produce section of most grocery stores.

Get out your silpat, or any other relatively non stick surface, and pour some canola on it.

Lay out some won Ton wrappers, and brush them lightly with oil. 

So, here's how it really went: After brushing the wrapper, they seemed to be dripping in oil. Not what I was after. Then, I oiled up my hands, and rubbed each wrapper, just to get a light coat. That worked.

Now press wrapper into a regular size, non stick muffin cup.

Make sure to press it down pretty well, or the sides may fold over, into the cup. Not good.

Put the muffin tins in the pre-heated oven, on the middle rack.

See the bottom rack? It's evil and will burn your cups!

Bake for 5 to 6 minutes until cups are golden brown and crisp.

Cool.

Method for the Slaw:

Rinse the cooked shrimp under cold water. If frozen, this will thaw them.

Lay them out on a clean towel (or paper towels) to dry.

Put the shrimp into the sauce, place it in the fridge, and carry on prepping the veg.

Boil the rice noodles in salted water for 5 minutes until tender. Rinse with cold water, chop, and place in your big bowl.

 Start by Julienning the English cucumber. (If you use a regular cucumber, scrape all the seeds out with a melon baller).

I used a Mandoline because it's super fast to shred the cuke. The mandoline does not work well for the peppers, or the cabbage. If you don't have a mandoline, no big deal. Just Julienne them finely. No need to peel.

Put the shredded cucumbers on a plate lined with about 8 paper towels and sprinkle  with a good pinch of salt. Let them hang out while you chop up the rest of the veg.

Chop up the herbs. Take your basil leaves and stack them on top of one another, the roll them up.

Now, just slice through the roll.

For the mint, pull the leaves off of the stems and chop them up finely.

Put the thinly sliced cabbage, chopped bean sprouts, match stick size pepper strips, grated carrot, and chopped herbs in a big bowl.

Let's get back to the cucumbers. They are chock full of water, so you need to squeeze as much water out as possible. Roll up in the stack of paper towels and wring out over the sink. Dump them onto a clean dry stack of towels and repeat.

Mix all the ingredients in the bowl and toss.

Let's put these babies together.

Remove the shrimp from the sauce and put them on a plate. 

Pour the sauce over the veg and noodles in the big bowl. Toss with tongs to get the sauce all through the mix.

Take a won ton cup, and place one shrimp in it, tail up.

 Pick up a handful of slaw and squeeze out the excess sauce, and put it in the cup.

Place the filled cups on a pretty platter.

 And serve. This recipe makes about 36 appetizers.

The slaw itself is outstanding on it's own. As a main or a side dish, just chop up the ingredients, but not so finely, add the shrimp, tails off, and toss.

If you have a fish allergy, sub chopped cooked chicken or pork for the shrimp, and leave out the fish sauce.

Bon Appetit!

Ingredients; Sauce

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 cup sugar

3 Tbls fermented fish sauce (Nam Pla)

2 Tbls rice vinegar

2 Tbls fresh cilantro, chopped fine

4 garlic cloves, pressed through a garlic press

1 Tbls garlic chili sauce

1 tsp crushed red pepper 

1 tsp sriracha sauce

Method: Sauce

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until sugar is dissolved.

Place cooked shrimp in sauce.

Refrigerate

Ingredients: Won Tons

1 package won ton wrappers

Canola oil

Method: Won Ton cups

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees (F).

Oil your hands with canola oil.

Rub each wrapper until moist.

Place in muffin cups.

Bake on middle rack for 5-6 minutes

Ingredients: Slaw

1/2 box (4) ounces Thai thin rice noodles, boiled for 5 minutes and drained

1/2 head Napa cabbage, thinly sliced

1 red and one orange pepper, very thinly sliced into matchstick size

1 & 1/2 cup bean sprouts, chopped coarsely

1 English cucumber, seeded and sliced into matchstick size

1 large carrot, peeled and grated

4 green onions, sliced thinly

1 cup fresh mint leaves, finely chopped

1 cup fresh basil, finely chopped

1 cup fresh cilantro finely chopped

1 pound cooked, peeled, deveined shrimp, tails on 

Method: Slaw

Boil the rice noodles in salted water for 5 minutes until tender. Rinse with cold water, chop.

Julienne the English cucumber. 

Put the shredded cucumbers on a plate lined with about 8 paper towels and sprinkle  with a good pinch of salt.

Roll up in the stack of paper towels and wring out over the sink. Dump them onto a clean dry stack of towels and repeat.

Chop up the herbs.

Mix all the ingredients in the bowl and toss.

Remove the shrimp from the sauce and put them on a plate. 

Pour the sauce over the veg and noodles.  Toss with tongs to get the sauce all through the mix.

Finish:

Take a won ton cup, and place one shrimp in it, tail up.
Pick up a handful of slaw and squeeze out the excess sauce, and put it in the cup.