Cheater's Crab or Smoked Salmon Rangoon

Crab (or Smoked Salmon) Rangoon are warm, tempting little nibbles ~ crispy won ton wrappers encase a cream cheese & crabmeat filling, laced with flecks of minced green onion (scallion), and other seasonings. But a warning ~ if you like them you'll find them highly addictive!


Actually the only thing about this method of making Crab Rangoon which makes it a "Cheater's" version is the method in which the won ton wrappers are folded.

Above you can see something like the traditional way  of forming filled won tons. However, as is evident, I usually put more filling in mine than recipes usually call for  ~ not so traditional. :)  


1/2 teaspoon of the cream cheese-seafood mixture is the generally recommended amount of filling for each, that way the creamy filling is less likely to ooze out while cooking  ... I push the limit. 

I call the ones formed as shown above as the "Cheater's" version, because it is a little faster to form the delectable morsels this way. Just put the filling in the middle, seal the edges with 'finger-paint skid' of water, fold the won ton wrapper in half to make a triangle and press edges to seal.

The version shaped in the traditional way  ~ like the ones above are best deep fried...

Whereas the triangular version may be shallow fried. 

Let's face it, fried is FRIED, so it isn't a healthier version, but it is more economical because shallow frying requires less oil.

And there is more surface area to turn delicately crispy!

The recipe is credited to  "Trader Vic"   (Victor Jules "Trader Vic" Bergeron, Jr.)   

Over the years I have collected several of his old books from the secondary market ~  although some seem dated, they are quite entertaining, and I look forward to sharing a few more of his recipes in the future.

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A little more about Trader Vic (bio credited to countedx58)

Victor Jules "Trader Vic" Bergeron, Jr

	Birthdate: December 10, 1902, Death: October 11, 1984
"Businessman. He founded the Trader Vic's chain of Polynesian restaurants. At the height of "Tiki" popularity, Trader Vic's had more than two dozen locations around the world. The chain still survives today. Bergeron became acquainted with the food business as a child, when his father was a waiter at San Francisco's famed Fairmont Hotel and also ran a grocery store in Oakland. The family both lived above and worked in the store. At the age of 30, he opened a pub, originally called Hinky Dink's, across the street that served cocktails and Polynesian food. The name was later changed to Trader Vic's. Vital to any restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area at that time was getting a good review from San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen. In 1936, an item in Caen's column said of Trader Vic's that the "best restaurant in San Francisco is in Oakland." He and his competitor, "Don the Beachcomber," both claimed to have invented the Mai Tai cocktail. Adept at storytelling, Bergeron also published several books of both recipes and fiction."  ~*~*~*~*~*~*~ If you would like a printable copy of the recipe, please click HERE to visit the Once Upon a Plate Recipe blog. Thank you for stopping by today !! xo ~m