I know Mexican food is very popular here. Although I have some of these in my repertoire (my wife asks me to make tostadas every other week), I’m not excited about cooking them. Asian cuisine, on the other hand, is.
I like experimenting with the different flavors found in Asian cuisine. Hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, sriracha, and gochujang are my favorites.
With that in mind, I would like to share with you three Asian food recipes that I have created here at Searcy. The first is my take on Voodoo Rolls, which are egg rolls. The second is a dipping sauce, Cassian sauce, which is one of his other two recipes. The third dish is the Crabby Jack Wonton, which is perfect as an appetizer. Now, gather your ingredients and head to the kitchen!
voodoo roll
This is a recipe I came up with the day after I boiled the crawfish. I used leftover crawfish tails, onions, garlic, and sausage. This was my first time using egg roll wrappers. My guests loved it, and yours will love it too.
2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
6 ounces andouille sausage, cut into small dice
5 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
8 oz.shredded mozzarella cheese
Directions: Toss crawfish with Creole seasoning. Sauté onions and garlic with Worcestershire sauce for 2 minutes. Add crawfish and andouille. Fry for 3 minutes. Drain and cool. Stir cheese into cold meat mixture. Place the egg roll wrapper on a dry surface. Place 2 tablespoons of the meat and cheese mixture in a roll in the center of the wrapper. Fold sides of wrapper 1/2 inch over mixture. Wet one end and roll the roll towards that end. Press to seal. Fry the rolls at 375 degrees until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Flip the roll so that both sides are cooked evenly.
Cassian dip sauce
My first voodoo roll was delicious, but something was missing. They needed dipping sauce. This is a recipe that doesn’t require any tweaking. It’s rare that I don’t tinker with a recipe to try to improve it. This wasn’t one of them. The secret is the use of sugar cane syrup to sweeten the sauce.
1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
2 tablespoons Steen sugar cane syrup
1/4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Sriracha sauce (optional)
Instructions: Mix all ingredients together. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes until the flavors meld. Remove from the refrigerator 20 minutes before serving.
Crabby Jack Wonton
I wanted to try something a little smaller than the tamagoyaki. The wonton skin was next to the egg roll skin. You could call this my version of crab rangoon without the cream cheese.
8 oz crab chunks, shell removed
10 oz fresh shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
Directions: In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients except wonton wrappers. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
I decided to make wontons. Place the wonton wrappers at the 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, and 9 o’clock corners. Place 1 heaped teaspoon of the filling in the center of the wrapper. Use your fingers to lightly wet the side closest to you. form a triangle. Press out any air bubbles to seal the triangle. Wet the bottom corner and align the corners. Press the two corners together to seal. If using an air fryer, keep the wontons in a triangular shape.
To cook in the deep fryer: Heat the fryer to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake until golden brown, turning as needed.
To cook in the air fryer: Coat each wonton with oil or cooking spray. Place the wontons in a single layer and cook at 375 degrees F for 10 minutes.
Don’t be afraid to try cooking dishes from different cultures. I think it’s a good way to change your daily routine. Maybe you can invent a new dish that your family will enjoy.
Next time, we will take you on a journey upstream from New Orleans. We stop at Oak Alley Plantation, one of the most photographed buildings in the state. You’ll see that it’s more than just a beautiful property.
Creole-Cajun chef Tommy Centra is a New Orleans native who moved to Searcy after Hurricane Katrina and published his second cookbook, Creole & Cajun Comfort Food. For more information, please visit his website www.creolecajunchef.com and his Facebook @creolecajunchef.
