The One With the Coconut Mango Appetizers

I like trying new appetizers at parties to keep things interesting and, hopefully, expand my repertoire of recipes. (Do you like the alliteration in that last bit? I do.) Anyway, I saw these on Pinterest and decided to give them a try. Of course I ended up adapting the recipe to fit what tasted good and was available at my local grocery store. I'm really just not dedicated enough to go to specialty stores.  Call me lazy. But I prefer "resourceful." Here goes...

Coconut Mango Appetizers
Serves 24 guests, with 2 appetizers each

• 48 wonton wrappers (ask your store clerk to help you find these, but they're probably available anywhere)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced small
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 2 tsp dried ground ginger
• 4 chicken breasts, grilled and diced small
• 1 cup coconut milk (you can find this canned in the Asian foods section)
• 1 cup peach mango salsa, mild or medium (or any kind of mango salsa)
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• Salt to taste

To make the Coconut Mango Filling:
Heat your oil in a skillet over medium heat. Saute the onions for about 5 minutes, until tender. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another minute. Add the chicken*, coconut milk, salsa, lime juice and salt. Stirring constantly, cook until the mixture is bubbly and thickened. Let cool before spooning into wonton cups.

To make the Wonton Cups:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly oil or use Pam pray to coat a mini cupcake or muffin tin. Press one wonton wrapper into each of the muffin spots, creasing the folds against the side of the pan so that your coconut mango creation has somewhere to go. Bake in oven for about 8 minutes, until golden brown.  (Depending on how hot your oven runs, it might only take 5 minutes, so check then to make sure you don't burn your wontons.)

*To prepare ahead of time: make everything according to directions a day to two days before your party, leaving the wonton cups to be made the day-of. Leave the chicken out of the filling until you have made your wonton cups and are ready to serve. Allow everything to stand at room temperature for about an hour, to let it lose it's refrigerated chill. 
**This recipe easily becomes vegetarian without the chicken, which really doesn't seem incredibly necessary, except that it makes the appetizers more hearty and substantial.
***This would be reallly, really good with some shredded ginger on top. I was going to add it myself, but someone threw away my prized ginger. I was sad. But they turned out great, anyway.

 

I shared this recipe at Creative Juice on the Momnivore's Dilemma.