You know Filipino food is on the rise when local Filipino restaurant, Bad Saint, creates a recipe for Bon Appetite magazine. That recipe is shrimp ukoy. Here’s Bad Saint, who are literally making fine dining Filipino dishes with street food. Funny right? It’s a strange juxtaposition, but a good one because Filipino food needs to reach the masses beyond California.
Bad Saint’s ukoy recipe is a good one, just a bit difficult to make if you aren’t familiar with frying since there isn’t a good binder. It reminds me more of a Chinese bird nest, which is a great texture. The shrimp ukoy I’m more familiar with is in between bird nest and a latke; definitely more towards bird nest because I find latkes to be a bit dense.
The beauty about ukoy is that you can make it seasonal. Traditionally it’s made with bean sprouts, carrots, and onions with shrimp or dilis (Filipino dried anchovies). You can also just stick to the veggies, which I have done for my children when they were first starting to eat solid foods (this is a great baby led weaning recipe). Make this your own!
For this recipe I picked vegetable spaghetti in the produce aisle. This is a great cheat if you want to save time or are adverse to chopping. You can also grate your veggies too. Shrimp ukoy is traditionally made with shrimps with their heads on, but you can easily just use peeled and deveined shrimp. If you want to be super fancy like Bad Saint, they are now serving their ukoy with soft shelled crabs since it is in season.
And you are probably wondering what the heck is annatto? You can find annatto in the ethnic section of your main stream grocery store where they keep their spices; you’ll definitely find it in your local Asian grocery store. It is a natural food dye, so this will make your ukoy reddish orange. Annatto has a very mild peppery nutmegy taste. It is completely optional especially if you are unable to find it. I would probably add a bit of pepper and nutmeg as a substitute.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think.
Shrimp Ukoy
Shrimpy ukoy is a crunchy appetizer made with vegetables and shrimp.
Ingredients
- Vinegar Sauce
- 1/4 sugar cane vinegar (or distilled white vinegar)
- 3 garlic cloves, smashed
- 2-3 Thai hot peppers, thinly sliced (optional)
- salt and pepper
- Shrimp Ukoy
- 1 lb. shrimp with heads on, legs and tendrils trimmed
- 1 lb. sweet potato, thinly sliced or grated
- 1 lb. zucchini, thinly sliced or grated
- ½ lb. bean sprouts
- 2 large onion, thinly sliced
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1½ cups corn starch, divided
- 1 cup club soda (or tap water)
- 1 tsp. fish sauce
- 1 tsp. annatto
- Peanut oil in deep fryer
Directions
- Step 1 In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients for the vinegar sauce, adding salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
- Step 2 In a large bowl, toss vegetables and shrimp until evenly mixed.
- Step 3 In another large mixing bowl, add egg, 1 cup of corn starch, club soda, fish sauce, and annatto. Mix until well incorporated and slurry turns into an even reddish orange.
- Step 4 Pour slurry into vegetable and shrimp mixture. Toss again until everything is coated in slurry.
- Step 5 Strain vegetable mixture and place in a dry bowl.
- Step 6 Add remaining cornstarch and toss again.
- Step 7 Form patties (about 3-4 inches in diameter, and no more than half an inch thick), making sure each patty has at least one shrimp.
- Step 8 Heat deep fryer to 350°F.
- Step 9 Place patties in hot oil, making sure not to over crowd your fryer and making the oil boil over.
- Step 10 Fry on each side for 3 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy.
- Step 11 When done, drain on paper towel.
- Step 12 Serve immediately with vinegar sauce.
