Trobee WONTON Kenobi?

     "You better keep your guard up," Trobee told my brother Chase. "You never know when Tro is gonna' give you the old one-two!"

          Chase invades the NC kitchen from time to time. He cooks eggs. He eats. He leaves a mess.

          "Ow! Stay away from me!"

          "Whatsa' matter, brother? You scared?"

           "Yes."

           Trobee laughed wildly as she chased Chase around the kitchen counter. He fled downstairs. Trobee stood triumphant.

           "Ok, Courty. What are we making today?"

           "Today is the day," I said, "that we're gonna' finalize our Wonton Squishies. Cause I'm craving em like crazy. Plus I have an idea for a sweet n' sour dip...."

          "Yesss! I love those bad boys!"

           I nodded. Yes, yes. Everyone loves the Wonton Squishies. Ruthie and I first started making them a couple of years ago-- I had desired the wonton cream cheese puffs from Chinese restaurants without the deep-fry damage and with a little spice action. And lo, the 'Squishies' were born.

          "Don't bother to find the recipe-- cause we've never actually written it down."

          "We haven't?"

          "Well no. It's just so easy... Anyway, it's time we did a post on them. Our people will love them."

          "Damn right they will."

RECIPE B-R-E-A-K-D-O-W-N

"So what spices do we have in these again? I forgot."

"Just three spices," I told her. "Real easy. Think of that Queen song We Will Rock You... The beat goes dun-dun-TSCH! Dun-dun-TSCH! Cumin-Coriander-ASS! [-afetida]"

Blank look. Tumbleweed. I shrugged.

"We had ass [asafetida] in there?"

"Yeah, baby!" said I. "It's the secret ingredient." People eat these, including those who won't normally touch spiced food, and just can't figure (or really care at that point) what that special flavor is. Ha. Fun.

*     *     *

Of the sweet n' sour dipping sauce: "Oh yum!" went Trobee. "I can't wait to dip the wontons in this!" 

"I can't wait to dip you in it," went Chase. "Then it'll really be sweet n' sour."

"Ooooh!" went Courtney. I mean-- myself.

*     *     *

"I just can't figure out," I was telling Trina, "why yours are just so much better than Trobee's."

It was truly a mystery.

Over the weekend, Trobee and I had served them to a poker-playing party at a lakeside resort. And they were pretty good... just not the yum-yum-yum that I remembered. And now that I'd had Trina make them just one more time to restore my confidence (and validate the sweet n' sour dipping sauce) all of those old lovin' feelings were coming back. Croinky.

Even Chase grunted thus.. as he savagely sopped up the remaining dip. (Did I mention that the lad 'hates spices'?) "These are better." [Aside: I didn't alert him when he was scarfing down the soy cream cheese version. Trust, you know, is an important commodity. And no, he couldn't tell a difference.]

Could it be that our Trina had a special 'wonton way' about her? (After all, her boyfriend is half-Vietnamese). Or perhaps there was some secret to her baking protocol that coaxed the spices to swell forth in flavor.

The answer to this riddle: Trobee had forgotten to roast the spices first!

So let that be a lesson to y'all.

photos by Trina and Mo Digital

---

WonTon Squishies

• 20 wonton wrappers
• 8 oz cream cheese-- whipped, low fat, or soy
• 1 green onion, minced
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp asafetida
• 10 or 20 jalapeno rings depending on if you are going to use a whole or a half ring for each wonton
• a light sprinkle of salt, optional

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Get a small bowl of water handy.
2. In a small skillet, dry roast the coriander, cumin and asafoetida until the cumin seeds have darkened a bit. Whizz to a powder in your coffee grinder
3. Mix together the spices, green onion and cream cheese with a fork. You may want to nuke the cream cheese a bit first to soften it, unless you're using 'whipped'.
4. Place the wonton wrappers on a plate. Plop a little glob of cream cheese mixture in the middle of each wrapper, then place the jalapeno ring (or half-ring) on top in the center.
5. Dip your clean fingers in the small bowl of water and moisten the top left corner of the wrap. Take the bottom right corner and fold it up onto where the water was placed (like a hat shape). Then gently take the other corners and squeeze them all together.
6. Arrange the stuffed wontons straight up on a greased baking sheet and spray a little of oil on top of each wonton. Put in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Pineapple-Tamarind Dipping Sauce

• 6 oz pineapple juice
• 1 Tb sugar
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp tamarind concentrate
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp ketchup

1. Mix the sugar and cornstarch in 1 Tb water. Set aside.
2. In a small pot, mix the pineapple juice, tamarind paste, soy sauce, and ketchup and bring to a boil.
3. Now add the cornstarch mixture, stir well and cook for a few minutes.

OPTIONAL AND RECOMMENDED: In a small skillet, heat a dab of oil and roast a crumbled chile pod and about half a teaspoon of sesame seeds. When they have darkened a few shades, dump them over the dipping sauce. Do this before serving, They will float on top. It looks cool. And it gives great texture. We like texture.

UPDATE 5/05:  Chase cooks up the second-best omelette I've ever had -- using green onions, spinach, and the Spiced Cream Cheese (see above recipe) as the filling. Incredible.