FOOD+FLICKS| Topeka Capital-Journal
In a region of the country saturated with chips and salsa, chicken fingers and potato skins, finding a uniquely delicious appetizer can be a challenge.
Step into Topeka's Tuptim Thai, 2949 S. Kansas Ave., where you'll find a menu loaded with a dizzying array of starters. Such offerings as Crispy Spring Rolls, Coconut Chicken Sticks and Bandit Dried Beef all jockey for your attention.
Yet there is one Thai favorite, the one with the delightful sounding name, that you have to try — Money Bags (or Tung Tong as they are called in Thailand).
These small, crispy, deep-fried pastry purses filled with a cream cheese concoction, are served with a small bowl of Tuptim Thai's homeade sweet and sour sauce — a brilliant orange-colored mixture made with pineapple and chili paste.
Each "bag" is made by hand — a delicate process of folding, pinching and shaping fragile wonton wrappers loaded with cream cheese, crab flake and a blend of Tuptim Thai's own seasonings.
As an appetizer they are are so good, you could quite easily keep eating the cartoon-reminiscent money bag-shaped treats and forget about the rest of your meal.
THE BUZZ: According to Tuptim Thai's Kiravallee Piyassaphan, the golden-colored morsels are the best-selling appetizer on the menu, "We have customers who tell us, 'We just HAVE to get our Money Bags,' " she said, quickly adding that some customers request more than one order of the deep-fried dumplings.
According to one longtime customer, the Money Bags are pure comfort food. "They're just one of those things that makes you smile," she said.
THE SECRET: At first glance, you might think Money Bags are the same as Chinese crab rangoon. It is only after a taste that you realize they are uniquely Thai. "People love the cream cheese taste," Piyassaphan says, "but it is the seasoning that makes them special. That, and they are pretty." Indeed.
SALES: As you might imagine, Tuptim Thai serves a lot of Money Bags. How many? According owner and chef Chira Piyassaphan, they prepare about 40 orders a day during the week and closer to 80 orders a day on the weekend.
COST: An appetizer consists of eight Money Bags along with sweet and sour sauce for $4.99.
