Goguma Mondoo

I was bored the other night, and perusing sites to find some more Korean recipes, when I came across a recipe for sweet potato donuts. "Yum! I love sweet potatoes!" I said to myself as I whipped up the recipe in my kitchen at eight in the evening.

They were terrible. I don't know if I did something wrong, or it's one of those "acquired taste" Korean dishes, but it was chewy, grainy, and way too doughy.

But I do love sweet potatoes (called goguma in Korean), and I did want something sweet. So today, I decided to get inventive and combined wonton wrappers and mashed sweet potato to make goguma mondoo. It turned out great!

Ingredients
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed.
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. ground cinnamon
24 wonton wrappers
butter/margarine
water
salt (optional)

Steam your sweet potato cubes, then mash well. Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon. Heat a large skillet or griddle to medium heat, and melt enough butter to coat the bottom. Spoon about 1 tsp of sweet potato mixture into each wonton square. Using your finger, wet two sides of the wonton and fold into a triangle. Fry the wontons in the butter for two minutes on each side, or until they turn golden brown. If desired, sprinkle with a pinch of salt before serving warm.

Tips
*Brown sugar and white sugar are two different things. Though you can use regular white sugar for this recipe, be aware that it takes longer to melt and may produce a grainier texture.
*You may use more or less filling, depending on your taste. Less filling is less sweet, so it would work for savory uses, such as a side dish with a family dinner. More filling is more sweet, so it works best as a dessert.
*Don't fry these in oil, or deep fry them. The wontons get their flavor from whatever they are fried in. With oil, that just means a greasy taste and feel
*Basically anything can be fried in wontons and taste amazing. Just remember that you should plan on using ingredients that are already cooked if you want to take less time. Raw meats can be used in wontons (and make a dish called mondoo when cooked) but they take longer, and are more unpredictable. For this reason, I only use ground beef in my wontons for savory dishes. Pork and chicken are too risky for me.

Good luck and good cooking!