Chow Vegan

Sometimes it’s nice to be indulgent and have a little decadent something or other. Today, it’s fried wontons and not just fried wontons but cream cheese fried wontons. Made a bit more healthier by baking rather than deep frying and adding spinach to the filling so you can eat up with not too much guilt. For this recipe, I used the Bloomsdale variety of spinach for its excellent flavor and tasty leaves. This is the kind of spinach nice restaurants like to use. I purchased mine at the local farmer’s market.

Cream Cheese Wontons
Makes 16 wontons

1/2 pound spinach
8 ounce package Tofutti cream cheese non-hydrogenated plain
16 wonton wrappers
1 bunch chives roughly chopped
Olive oil
Rice vinegar
Chili garlic sauce (comes in a jar from the Asian grocery store)

Wash the spinach and saute until just wilted, set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Have a small bowl of water handy for wetting the edges. Place 1 teaspoon cream cheese in the center of the wonton skin, add 1 teaspoon of spinach and sprinkle some chives on top. Wet the edges with a finger and fold to form a triangle. Press down to seal the edges, making sure to get all of the air out. I’ve found a simple flat triangle shape works best for baking.

Brush a dark colored baking pan with oil (a darker pan helps to brown the wontons). Place the folded wontons on the pan and brush with oil. Bake for 8-10 minutes on each side until brown, brushing oil on the other side as well.

Serve with a dipping sauce of rice vinegar mixed with chili garlic sauce to taste.