By Request

BETTY SHIMABUKURO

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Gau gee is easy and ono,
whether fried or in soup

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On the manual-dexterity scale, won ton is a five or six. Gau gee is a one. If you can fold a piece of paper in half, you can make gau gee, whereas won ton involves a triangle and a twist.

Both are traditional Chinese finger foods, filled with ground pork and flavorings. The outside wrappers are exactly the same, and either morsel can be fried crisp or dropped as a dumpling into soup.

If you're having trouble visualizing the difference, gau gee is rectangular and puffs up into a pillow shape; won ton looks like a fat, pointy hat.

Kathy Berreth asked for a recipe for gau gee. This one comes from "Flavors of Aloha: Hawaii's Ethnic Foods," published in 2001 by the Japanese Women's Society of Honolulu. It includes a tangy dipping sauce.

The only little trick to this recipe is figuring out how much won ton pi to buy. The square wrappers are sold ready for stuffing at most supermarkets in various sized packages -- and none of them say how many wrappers are inside.

So here's the formula: A 10-ounce package contains about 28 wrappers. You'd need two to complete this recipe and that would yield leftovers (cut in strips and fry to make salad toppers).

This is a fried version, but you can slip the same gau gee into hot soup for a soft dumpling.

Gau Gee with Sweet-Sour Sauce

4 dozen won ton pi wrappers
Oil for deep frying
>> Filling:
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pound shrimp, shelled, cleaned and minced
1 teaspoon ginger juice (see note)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon cooking wine
2 tablespoons chopped celery
>> Sauce:
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons cooking wine
2 tablespoons ketchup
3 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water

Combine filling ingredients. Place 1 tablespoon on a sheet of won ton pi. Fold in half and wet edges with water to seal.

Heat oil to 365 degrees. Fry gau gee until golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper. Makes about 4 dozen.

To make sauce: Combine ingredients in a pan and bring to a boil. Once sauce thickens, cool. Just before serving, bring to a boil again. Serve as a dip.

Note: To make ginger juice, grate fresh ginger and squeeze out the liquid to make 1 teaspoon.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per gau gee, not including sauce: 65 calories, 3 g total fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 160 mg sodium, 7.5 g carbohydrate, 2.5 g protein.

Food Stuffs: Morsels

Send queries along with name and phone number to:
"By Request," Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
500 Ala Moana, No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813.
Or send e-mail to bshimabukuro@starbulletin.com

Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the Body & Soul section indicates calculations by Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.