Cheese Sticks Two Ways

I had been seeing people making cheese sticks by wrapping string cheese in wonton wrappers for quite awhile. It took some time, but I finally got around to trying it. I'm so glad I did!!

I've seen them both ways, fried and baked. So I tried both!



Cheese Sticks
String Cheese
Wonton Wrappers
oil for frying (if you're frying!)
Dipping Sauces

Cut each string cheese into thirds.
Roll into wonton wrappers.

Now either fry in oil heated to 350F until golden.

Or...

Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, spritz with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and bake at 400F for 15 minutes or until golden.

Serve with your favorite dipping sauces.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First you need these...


Cut the string cheese sticks into thirds


Place a wonton wrapper on plate or cutting board in front of you as shown below.

Moisten the tip of your finger with water and trace around the edge of the wonton wrapper.

Place a piece of cheese near the bottom of the wonton wrapper.


Fold up the bottom of the wrapper over the cheese.


Fold in the sides.


Roll it up tight.


Repeat until you run out of cheese or wrappers or until you have as many as you'd like.



Now for baking, lay them out on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Spray them with oil olive. Then sprinkle with kosher salt. Or whatever salt you like!


Into the oven, preheated to 400F for 15 minutes. Turn them half way through.

But pay attention to them, they might leak a little.


Enjoy with your favorite dipping sauces!


Now if you're frying... heat your oil to 350F and fry a few at a time.

Be sure to not overcrowd the pan.


Drain on a paper towel



And serve with your favorite dipping sauces!


At first I was thinking that the baked ones would be really lame.

But both were really good!!

Fried of course is amazing, because everything is really good fried. They're crispy and melty and gooey. Totally delicious!

But the baked one were also wicked good. They're chewy and salty and creamy. So good!

The kids swarmed on these and devoured both kinds in a matter of minutes.

Try them both ways and see which way your family prefers!

Ukoy ~ Shrimp Fritters

So a couple times a year, I try to make a Filipino feast for my kids. They rarely get to see that side of the family, but I want them to be at least familiar with the food!

Now the Filipino side of the family is not my side of the family. So I mostly have to wing it.

While reading one filipino dish a week, I stumbled across Ukoy... Shrimp Fritters.

I knew right away that I had to make them. It took me almost a year... but I finally did!

They are sooooo good!!!!



Ukoy

Batter:
3/4 C rice flour
1/3 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 C water

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Beat the egg together with the water. Mix the dry and wet ingredients and until smooth. Let cool in the fridge for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Filling:
1 C shrimps
1 C leeks white part julienned
1 C carrots julienned
1 C bean sprouts
1 C snow peas julienned
1 C cabbage julienned

frying oil
4-inch square banana leaf (I used a few!)

Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl. Pour enough batter just to coat. Oil one side of the banana leaf. Place banana leaf on a spider and put a little bit of the mixture on top. Fry in 300-350 degree F oil. After about 1 minute of so take the banana leaf out. Continue frying for about 1 minute. Then flip over. Serve with vinegar, garlic, and salt sauce.

He has a video on his post and I highly suggest you check it out.

Frying stuff on a banana leaf was intimidating enough, but if I hadn't been able to see how he does it, there's no way I would have even tried!

You need rice flour.


If they don't have this at your grocery store, you can get it at an Asian market.

You can get banana leaves there too. It's a gigantic package of frozen banana leaves for $1.25! I don't know how much I thought they'd be. But I didn't expect them to be that cheap!

So whisk up your batter and put it in the fridge.


Toss together all of the veggies & shrimps, until well combined.


Fast forward an hour...

Cut some banana leaf squares.

(Did ya notice I finally have REAL kitchen scissors now?!!)

Heat the oil.

Add just enough batter to coat the veggie/shrimp mixture.


Now for the really intimidating part... the frying.

I had no idea frying anything would intimidate me... but I had never tried to fry loose things that are supposed to end up together!

Grab a little handful/big pinch of veggie/shrimp stuff and put it on a banana leaf square.


Now into the oil.

I had a hard time coordinating the spider after it was in the oil and ended up kinda holding the leaf in place with tongs.


When it's kinda held together, you can let go.


Then you can slide the leaf out of the pan.

When the fritter golden, turn it over and cook until it's golden on the other side too.

You really really really need to watch his video to have a better idea of how to do this.

Drain on a rack and serve with your favorite dipping sauce. I meant to try the sauce in this recipe but forgot and ended up using vinegar/soy sauce/garlic. (I can drink that stuff it's so good!!!)



Everyone LOVED these!!! I'll definitely be making them again!

My pictures don't begin to show you how yummy they are! You must try them!

Yikes! I almost forgot!!

paoix... this is for you!

Deep Fried Stuff ~It's What's for Dessert!

Jon LOVES Deep Fried Desserts! The first one I ever made was Deep Fried Candy Bars. They came out great!

Last summer I think, we saw Robert Irvine make Deep Fried Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches on some TV show. I looked at Jon and could tell he definitely wanted me to make him one!

Now when I deep fry stuff for dessert, Tawny and Jon try to think of things we have that I can batter and fry.

It always reminds me of the Saddlesore Galactica episode of The Simpsons when Homer says, "See Marge? I told you they could deep-fry my shirt." and Marge replies, "I didn't say they couldn't, I said you shouldn't!" That episode also has Furious D.. I love that episode!



Anyway....

I made Deep Fried Peanut Butter and Jelly for Jon. Since I was deep frying... I also made Deep Fried Oreos, Deep Fried Nutella Sandwich and I tried to Deep Fry Chocolate Covered Donuts...



You'll need is

Sweet Sandwiches
~You're only limited by your imagination here.
Cookies
Maybe cake?
Your favorite pancake recipe
Oil for frying
Your favorite toppings

Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich


Nutella Sandwich (maybe add some sliced bananas!)


An assortment of goodies to batter & fry!
Peanut butter & jelly sandwich, Nutella sandwich, Oreos, Chocolate covered donuts, Nutty Bar


Heat oil (vegetable, canola or peanut) to 350F.

Dip your yummies into the pancake batter and coat completely.




Gently place in hot oil.


When it puffs up, flip it over.






Drain on cloth or napkin covered wire rack.


Garnish with powdered sugar... cinnamon sugar... whipped cream... ice cream... sauces... fruit... whatever you like!


On to the next one!

Oreos










The inside gets soft and yummy!


Next I tried chocolate covered donuts. These didn't work out very well.




As soon as they hit the hot oil, the chocolate melted and slipped off with the pancake batter.


They ended up being fried donuts and slightly chocolaty fried dough.


Since they didn't work, I didn't try the Nutty Bar. It also has a thin chocolate coating and probably wouldn't have worked. The candy bars work because there is much more chocolate and they start out chilled.

I could try chilling the donuts first next time; but how much stuff do we really need to be able to eat deep fried??

So anyway... last, but certainly not least... Nutella sandwich.




This tasted just like a Nutella Donut!!


If you want a very naughty dessert... break out the deep fryer & the pancake batter!