Fried Thanksgiving Leftover Wontons

I thought of these the other day while I was at the grocery store.

I was at Shaw's, where I don't usually shop but I'd gone there because I got an email AND a comment from a reader that Shaw's had butter on sale for $1.88 a pound (Thanks, Susanna!), and maybe because I was wandering through the produce section looking for mushrooms (instead of zooming straight to them in either Dave's or Stop and Shop because I hit those stores more often, maybe it was because of this that I saw the wonton wrappers and my little idea was born.

You can probably guess where this is going, so I'll skip the usual blather and get straight to it.

Here's what I used:

A package of small wonton wrappers

 
Leftover turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce

 
Water, to moisten the wontons

Hot oil

Several layers of paper towels on a plate

Leftover gravy

And here's what I did:

First, I diced up some leftover turkey.  I wanted it pretty small, since there's not a lot of room in the wontons and I didn't want them to split open because I'd overstuffed them.

Next, I took a wonton wrapper and, with my finger, I moistened one side.  Actually, I only did the edges the first few times, but I found the wrappers kept splitting.  They seemed a bit on the dry side.  When I brushed the whole side with a tiny bit of water, that helped keep them split-free.

Then I put a little bit of stuffing, turkey and cranberry sauce in the center of the wrapper.

 
Here's where it got tricky.  I thought I'd only put a little bit, but even a little bit is a bit much when you're working with these little wrappers.  At first I was folding the wrappers into triangles, but that didn't leave me enough room inside for the mound of leftovers I was using.  I couldn't reduce the amount of filling much more, or the bite wouldn't say "Thanksgiving leftovers!" to anyone - it would be hidden beneath the fried wonton flavor.

 
So I switched gears and folded them into smaller rectangles instead.

 
And that worked beautifully.

Once I got the hang of things, I put about 2" of vegetable oil in a pot and started heating it.  I wanted to hit about 360 degrees F for frying.

When the temperature was high enough, I placed four of the wontons in to cook.  They cook really fast, by the way, so it's best to have all of them filled before you start cooking, rather than trying to put them together while a batch is frying.  Really - they go fast.  About a minute and a half on each side.

 
I removed the first batch and set them on the paper-towel-covered plate to cool and then put the next batch in.

I made these less than an hour ago (as I type this), so I only made enough for pictures and a taste, just to make sure my idea was REALLY worth sharing.

When I put the last batch in (and I should have done this BEFORE the cooking, because of the short cook time, but I used up all my thinking minutes earlier in the day and there weren't any rollover thinking minutes left to use.  Ah well.  My brain needs a new plan, I guess.) I got some of the gravy from the fridge and warmed it up in the microwave, put it in a little bowl, and arranged the wontons artfully (hahahaha) around it on the plate.

And then - ta da!  Tasty Post-Thanksgiving-Day Snack!

And fortunately everyone likes them. 

Because that's what we're having for dinner tonight.

So...what are you doing with your leftovers, if you have any?

P.S. After I posted this, and started making the rest of them for dinner, I had a thought that they might also be good with one slight variation in the cooking.  And I was right - they were good!

Comments

[Susanna]

Jayne,
So glad you took advantage of the butter sale! Happy Baking...
Those wonton snacks look divine!

[Lynne]

if you used two sheets, could you make them like ravioli, and so get more filling in?

[Erin Valerie]

Those look great! I love won-tons, but I never thought to put anything non-Asian in them! I'll have to try this sometime.

What we did with our leftovers was much simpler...

Sandwiches: toasted potato bread, cream cheese, cranberry sauce (whole berry), turkey and salt and pepper. Apple-yam casserole and mashed potatoes on the side. =)

[Xinmei]

This is a very good take on a traditional Chinese recipe. I will try it as a fusion dish sometime :)

[How to Cook a Thanksgiving Turkey]

Your wonton seems to be crispy as they are so brownish, so leftover turkey will do for this snack, I will try this one if ever there is a leftover this coming Thanksgiving