Family Favorite: Rice Bowls with Cream Cheese Wontons

When I am not in the mood for experimenting with something new and feel like getting something on the table that I know will be a home run I go for this rice bowl and wonton recipe. It's a favorite of ours and sometimes it's hard to have any left for lunch the next day. I used to make just the rice bowls for dinner and then one day I saw a recipe for shrimp wontons and I made them at home. They were good but they took too long to make and I felt we needed something creamy as the filling. So I wrote this simple cream cheese wonton recipe and easy dipping sauce.  They were an instant hit and much easier to make. It became a great pair with the rice bowls and now they are on constant rotation in my meal planning.  You can also make this a meatless dish my substituting any of your favorite vegetables for the chicken.

 

Serving for 2.

 

Chicken

2 whole chicken breasts sliced in half

2 teaspoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of garlic salt

 

Rice

2 cups of long grain rice

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 tablespoon of garlic salt

 

Wontons

1 8-oz package of cream cheese

18 (approximately) 4-inch wonton wrappers

4 green onions sliced

Bowl with 1/4 cup of water

canola or vegetable oil

 

Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup of soy sauce

1/8 cup of ponzu sauce

1 inch piece of ginger

1 teaspoon of shiracha

1 green onion sliced

 

Vegetables

1 cup of broccoli florets

1 cup of peeled and chopped carrots

2 diced green onions

 Panda Express Mandarin Sauce

 

Place rice, water and salt in rice cooker/steamer and steam according to the instructions.

Let the cream cheese sit out for about 20 minutes to soften or place in a bowl and place in the microwave for 30-45 seconds to soften.

For the wontons, mix green onions into softened cream cheese. Place approximately  one teaspoon of cream cheese mixture into each wonton. Dip your finger in the water and run it along the edge of the wonton and then fold diagonally. Place finished wonton on a plate and cover with a moist paper towel. Repeat these steps with the remaining wonton wrappers until you have finished the cream cheese mixture. Make sure to keep them covered with a lightly moist towel.  The moist paper towel will keep them from drying out and then cracking when you fry.  Also be careful to not overfill them because if the filling comes out the oil will splatter.

Fill a sauté pan about 1/2 inch up with you choice of oil and set to medium heat. Shallow fry the wontons in the oil for 1-2 minutes on each side, until they are golden brown.  Place them on a paper towel lined plate so that the towel absorbs the oil.  Once they are dry transfer to a serving plate.

                                               

For the sauce: mix soy sauce, ponzu sauce, ginger, shiracha, and green onions together and set aside.

 

Place the broccoli and carrots in a microwave steamer with water and steam for 5 minutes.

Place one tablespoon of  olive oil in pan over low heat and cook the chicken 5 minutes on one side and flip. Finish cooking on the other side.  Let chicken rest for 4 minutes then slice.

To serve place one cup of rice in a bowl, top with carrots and broccoli and slices of chicken. Sprinkle green onions on top. Serve with mandarin sauce. I like to just put out the bottle of mandarin sauce on the table rather than to put in the bowls myself so everyone can choose how much they want to use.