Yet Another Chanukah Recipe: Wontons w/ Bourbon Dipping Sauce

Wontons wrappers are fun--you can pretty much put anything inside, then all you need to do is fry them up into crispy deliciousness. For those of you who are health conscious and prefer not to deep fry things, you can pop these into boiling water for a few minutes (or steam them if you have a steamer) and have dumplings instead!

Note: It's easy to fall prey to overstuffing wontons so they fall apart in the cooking process. In general, you want to leave enough room around the edges to really press the wrapper together so it won't open and spill out everywhere.

Veggie Wontons w/ Bourbon Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 shallot, sliced thinkly
2 scallion, chopped (reserve 1 Tbsp for sauce)
salt and pepper to taste

1 package wonton wrappers
oil for frying

1/4 cup bourbon
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp brown sugar or honey
reserved scallions

Directions:

1. Heat 1 tsp oil in saucepan and saute carrots, cabbage, spinach and scallion until just softened but not browned, 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Lay wonton wrappers on a large baking sheet. Place 1 tsp of veggie mixture into center, then seal by wetting the edges with water (or egg) then pressing into a triangle shape (note: you can also make into a bundle or a variety of other traditional shapes).
3. Heat oil for frying in deep sauce pan. Fry until wontons are crispy and browned (note: if you are boiling for dumplings, make sure you stir so wontons don't stick together).
4. For sauce: Combine bourbon, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar/honey and scallions in a small pan. Bring to a boil and cook until syrupy (thick enough to stick to the back of a spoon).

Fun variations:

• Cook ground chicken, turkey or beef with the veggies.
• Add a couple of dashes of hot sauce for a spicier dipping sauce.
• Experiment with different fillings! You can even go sweet, like sauted diced apple &  fennel, cinnamon and brown sugar.
  

The price:
wrappers: 1.99
carrots: 1.99
cabbage: 1.99
shallot: 1.99
scallions: .15

Grand total: $8.11; serves 8-10