Deep Fried Wontons

Before frying

I don't think that this recipe is especially Vietnamese, these type of wontons are found all over East Asia. The filling is made from ground pork, chopped pieces of shrimp, scallions and seasoning. Then it's wrapped into wonton wrappers and deep fried until the meat inside is done.

What is Vietnamese though is the dipping sauce that goes with the wontons. At least half of the recipes in this book has some sort of dipping sauce on the side. The most simple one is just fish sauce, water and chillies. The more elaborate contain chicken livers, ready made Hoi Sin sauce and a lot more. The dip sauce recommended for these is a middle-of-the-road one. Some fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, chillies, vinegar, garlic and water to dilute with.

Lets just say, this is not for the calorie conscious. Me and my husband shared the whole batch of wontons just the two of us, and I wasn't hungry until in the afternoon the next day...

After frying

About deep frying, I'm not very confident with it, cause I'm scared of oil fires. Actually, my husbands did the deep frying of these beauties. But if you don't have anyone to do your dirty work for you, some pointers for success when deep frying:

• Turn the kitchen fan off 
• Keep a lid on the side as oil fires can only be put out by suffocation, not with water.
• While the oil is warming, keep some bread cubes on the side and toss one into the oil every now and then. When the bread turns golden within a few seconds, the oil is warm enough for start frying.
• If the oil starts smoking, boiling or if you can see a faint blue shimmer over the surface, immediately remove the oil from the heat. This means that it's close to catching fire.