Now let me introduce you to the world of Tequeños. Tequeños is a very popular dish in Latinamerica, specially in Peru, Venezuela and Colombia. It's usually eaten as a starter or side dish. It's just fried wonton dough filled with cheese, dipped into a guacamole sauce. That's bassicly what a Tequeño is. NOW, our brand new SPRING Tequeños is a mixture of the normal tequeños and Spring rolls, dipped into a delicious lemon sauce.
Now what we first did was buy a bunch of vegetables that we both love. Carrots, Zucchini, red pepper, etc. We cut them into little squares (we shredded the carrots) We also cutted an onion into squares and fried it in a pan with a little bit of vegetable oil and butter. We Added a LOT of garlic (we LOVEEE garlic!) salt, pepper and cumin. Once the onion was soft and white, we fried a little bit the zucchini and then added all the ingredients in the big pan (we used a wok) Then we squeezed one half of a grated ginger and lemon and added soy sauce and a little bit more of salt and pepper (to taste). The result was a yellowish-orangy mixture of veggies (like the picture below).
The rest is easy! you just have to fill the wonton dough with a spoon of the mixture (try to put it in the middle of the dough, like the picture below!)
Then, dip your finger in a little bit of water (people usually works this with a beaten egg, but water works just fine!) and, with the square leaned to a side (like the picture above) paint the edges on the righ and left and roll it up. Then paint the ends of the rolled dough and seal it like the picture below.
Then comes the frying part!! In a BIG pan, but a lot (and i mean A LOT) of oil (like half a bottle), in order for the Tequeños to fry evenly on both sides they have to be floating in oil. Turn up the heat, and once the oil is really hot, VERY CAREFULLY put in some tequeños. After a couple of minutes turn them around, and once they are gold and crunchy take them out with a skimmer and put them in plate with paper towels.
Dip them in some lemon sauce and eat hot!!! Watch out cause they'll be REALLY hot.
ENJOY!!! (Then we tried to make some cookies that didn't actually worked out! haha but we console ourselves with our delicious SPRING TEQUEÑOS)
RECIPE:
This recipe makes 100 tequeños (we could have made the entire 100, but we only made 99 because we kept eating the veggie mixture!)
Ingredients:
1 and a Half carrots (BIG ones)
1/2 Red Pepper
1/2 Zucchini
1 Leek
1 small ginger
1 yellow chili
1 onion
Garlic
Oil (a LOT)
Butter (1/4 cup)
Salt and pepper to taste
Cumin to taste
Soy sauce
Juice of 6 Lemons
water
Wonton dough (x100)
Grate the carrots and cut the Zucchini in slices and each slice into four pieces. Cut the Red Pepper into squares (taking out the seeds), the leek, the Yellow chili (also take out the seeds and veins) and the onion. Grate the ginger and set aside. In a small pan add a little bit of oil and once its hot add the zucchini. Let it cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until it's soft but not watery. Set aside. In a big pan pour a little bit of oil and put the butter in. Once it's melted, add the onions let them cook for about 3 to 4 minutes. Add salt, pepper and cumin, and once they're soft and white (almost transparent) add the garlic and mix well. Let it cook for a minute and add the leek, mix well and after a minute add the remaining ingredients (Zucchini, Red Pepper and the yellow chili). Let it cook for a couple of minutes. Mix well, taste it and add salt or pepper to taste. Pour 1 tablespoon or 2 (it depends on you) of Soy Sauce and mix. Squeeze in 1 and 1/2 or 2 lemons (again, depends on you) and the Ginger. Taste and adjust the spices to taste. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Put one wonton dough in a plate and, with a spoon, add a little bit of the mixture in the center of the dough. Roll and seal according to the directions above (the pictures), painting the edges and borders with water in order for the dough to stick.
Grab a big high-sided pan and pour in half a bottle of oil (A LOT). Turn the heat up. Once the oil is hot (try it dipping in just a little bit of the rolled Tequeño, and if it souds then its ready!) Pour in 5 or 6 Tequeños (deppending on the sice of your pan) and let them cook for 2 or 3 minutes, then turn them around and let them cook for another 2 minutes. Once they're gold and crunchy take them out with a skimmer and put them in a plate with paper towels.
To make the Lemon sauce:
Squeeze 3 or 4 lemons in a little bowl, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water, salt and pepper to taste.
If you want you can also dip them in Soy Sauce.
Eat while hot :)!
Adjust the ingredientes to whatever you like or have on hand.
If you don't have Yellow chili, you can use any kind of Chili you have.
