Monday, October 6, 2008

Frituritas de Guayaba Con Queso (Guava and Cheese Fritters)

These little fritters are wonton wrappers stuffed with cream cheese and guava paste. They make a wonderful finger food and are very addicting. Again, yes I know wonton wrappers are Chinese, but again my grandmother always used them to make these. (Yeah yeah I know another Cuban Chinese recipe but damn good, I'm sure there's other Cubans who make these fritters)

These fritters are very crispy on the outside and sweet, rich, and creamy on the inside. The cream cheese makes a wonderful contrast with the guava paste, the purpose of the cream cheese is to balance the strong sweetness of the guava paste and give it a wonderful creamy texture. If you only used the guava paste to make it it would be repulsive after gorging many of these tasty fritters. (I can eat 1 dozen in 1 sitting for dessert)

I gaurantee you that these are better than making "Empanadas de Guayaba Con Queso" (Guava and Cheese Empanadas) I deleted the post I made back then about the Guava Empanadas because it was experimental and these are way better ha ha. You just can't beat the texture.

Ingredients:
-1 pack of wonton wrappers
-1 can of Guava Paste cut into little square pieces (best guava paste is from bought in flat tin cans)
-
Cream Cheese cut into little square pieces to (as much as you need?)
-1 egg (beaten with 1 teaspoon water to seal wrappers)
-oil to deep-fry or pan-fry
(I use canola it has a very neutral clean taste and the food doesn't feel greasy when I fry with it, also has a high smoking point, I like peanut oil to but it's expensive)
Directions:
(1)Have everything prepared, open the wonton wrapper pack last because wonton wrappers dry out really quickly when exposed to air they will stiffen in some time (maybe like 30- 60 minutes?)
(2)Fill each wonton with small piece of guava paste and cream cheese on top, lightly with a small brush or you finger brush the sides with the beaten egg and water then seal, repeat until you have as many wontons as you want. Make sure to take all the air out of them you don't want air pockets in them.
(3)Heat oil on medium high heat until it's hot enough (you can test it with a wooden spoon when it makes small sizzles around the wood it is ready) now fry the wontons in small batches on both sides until golden browned (they are done very quickly so be watchful and careful not to burn them)
(4)Set them on a plate with a paper towel.
Notes:

(1)
I didn't use all the cream cheese and guava I opened, the package of wonton wrappers has enough for 60 wontons (or more I believe not sure), I saved the guava paste and cream cheese for other stuff I can make with them I simply enjoy it alone, some thick slices of guava paste and cream cheese cold from the fridge are really tastey to!

(2)
The wonton wrappers can be wrapped air tight with plastic wrap and it's packaging and frozen until you want to use it again, when ready to use again simply thaw them by leaving them out a couple hours.

(3)
Also sometimes my grandmother when she wanted to make them bigger she would get 2 wonton skins put a generous layer of guava, then another of cream cheese over 1 of the skins, and place another on top to sandwich it and seal it with egg wash, they would be like square crispy flat fritters filled with goodness.

(4)
I read somewhere online something a long the line of, "Cuban Cuisine doesn't deep-fry much" I told myself "Are you kidding me, we have an arsenal of fried finger foods, both savory and sweet!" so that's why I made a small label on my blog for "cuban fried foods"