Oriental Party Food

From LoveToKnow Party

If you are having an Asian themed party or just looking for fun finger food, Oriental party food is always a tasty choice.

Oriental Party Food

Usually when people think of Asian food, visions of chopsticks come to mind. While eating dinner with chopsticks is fun and makes for a great icebreaker at a dinner party for cocktail parties, it becomes more of a challenge than they are worth. Have no fear my friend. When looking for oriental party food there are many delicious options for you to explore without the use of these classic utensils.

Dumplings

Every cuisine has a version of the dumpling from the Italian ravioli to my personal favorite the Tibetan Mo Mo. Mo Mo are traditionally steamed and as such make a poor choice as a finger food. However, fried wontons are crisp and make a fabulous finger food for your friends. If you have the time you can make your own wonton skins. For the rest of us, wonton skins are available at most supermarkets and are an excellent option.

For fried Wontons you will need

½ a bunch of watercress
½ a pound of lean ground pork
½ a pound of raw, cleaned shrimp finely chopped
4 water chestnuts, chopped fine
1 egg, beaten slightly
1 tablespoon of rice wine
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
1 tablespoon of water
½ teaspoon salt
fresh ground pepper
Veggie oil for frying

Blanch the watercress (get a pot of salted water boiling, drop the watercress in for about 30 seconds, remove and immediately place the watercress into a bowl of ice water. We do this to remove the bitterness, give it a bright color and to season it a bit)
Fine chop the watercress
Mix all the ingredients except the veggie oil in a bowl.
Take a wonton wrapper and place a teaspoonful of the filling in the center of the wrapper. Moisten the edges of the wrapper and bring one corner up to meet the corner opposite of it making the square look like a triangle. Yu can leave the wonton like this of crimp the corners.
Heat the veggie oil to 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Fry them up and keep them warm in your oven, set the oven to 200- 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now You’re on a Roll

Egg rolls are always a popular oriental party food and you can get the egg roll wrappers at the same time you are getting the wonton wrappers.

For Egg Rolls you will need:

8 straw mushrooms chopped (available in cans and jars)
½ pound of bean sprouts
4 tablespoons veggie oil
½ pound ground pork
¼ pound of skinless boneless chicken breast fine diced
½ pound of shrimp cleaned and finely chopped
½ cup of bamboo shoots
½ cup of chicken broth
2 tablespoons of rice wine
1 table spoon of sugar
1 ½ teaspoons of salt
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
4 teaspoons of cornstarch dissolved in 4 teaspoons of water
1 cup finely chopped scallions
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 egg beaten to use later as a sealant
4 cups of veggie oil for frying

Heat two tablespoons of veggie oil in a large pan.
Using high heat fry the pork until it looses it pink color
Add the chicken and continue to cook until it looses it pink color
Add the shrimp and cook for one more minute
Put the meat mixture in a bowl and add 2 more tablespoons of oil to the pan
Add the mushrooms, sprouts, bamboo shoots and cook for a couple of minutes
Add the chicken broth, rice wine, sugar, salt, and soy sauce.
Bring to a boil
Add in the cornstarch slurry.
Cook until the mixture thickens
Add the meat mixture to the veggies
Add the scallions and sesame oil
Pour into a bowl.
Place an egg roll wrapper in front of you with a corner facing you.
Place about 2 tablespoons of mixture in the center of the wrapper.
Bring the corner closest to you up to cover the filling.
Paint the exposed edges of the wrapper with the egg
Fold the side corners over to the center
Roll up to seal.
Once you have rolled all your egg rolls heat the 4 cups of veggie oil to 360 degrees Fahrenheit
Fry the egg rolls a couple at a time.