Crab Rangoon (number 19)

Crab rangoon are deep-fried dumplings served in American Chinese restaurants, stuffed with a combination of cream cheese, lightly flaked crab meat (more commonly, canned crab meat or imitation crab meat), with scallions and/or garlic. These fillings are then wrapped in Chinese wonton wrappers in a triangular or flower shape, then deep fried in vegetable oil.Crab rangoon is rumored to have been introduced at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair and is thought to be named after Rangoon (Yangon), the former capital city of Burma (modern-day Myanmar). It is speculated that it may have been created in the 1950s by the "Polynesian-style" restaurant Trader Vic'sCrab rangoon is an essential appetizer in American Chinese cuisine of North America. Like the fortune cookie and other American Chinese dishes, it is sometimes believed to be an authentic Chinese dish when in fact it was developed in the United States. Though the history of crab rangoon is misty, cream cheese is not a widely used ingredient in China. In fact, few Chinese recipes if any use cheese as an ingredient.A similar American Chinese appetizer is called cream cheese wontons.