Bánh Tôm Chiên Khoai Tây (Vietnamese Shrimp & Sweet Potato Fritters recipe)
It is a simple recipe to prepare shrimp fritter with sweet potato or banh tom, which is served with Nước Chấm (Vietnamese dipping fish sauce) and lettuce as well as a variety of herbs.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup potato starch
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup of water1 tsp salt
- 1 lb of shrimp shell on one side, halved
- 2 lb sweet potatoes julienned
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients with salt in an enormous bowl. Mix until a smooth, loose batter is formed.
- Pat dry the sweet potatoes and shrimp. They don't need to be bone dry, but you should get as much liquid out as you can. Add them into the bowl. Mix them until they are coated with the batter.
- Warm a few cups of oil until it reaches 300 ° F. You could use a cast iron skillet or stainless steel pan/pot or a dutch oven. Make sure that the oil is 1 inch deep.
- Make sure to cover a large dish with paper towels. This is the place to place the fritters when they've been cooked.
- Utilizing a ladle scoop and drop those sweet potato fritters in the pan. Cook for 5-10 minutes, until crisp across all the sides. If the oil isn't enough to cover the fritters, cook them for 5 minutes each side. After cooking, they should be deep orange and golden brown all over.
- Scoop each fritter into the plate with paper towels. Paper towels are able to absorb any oil that is left. Repeat this process until fritters are made.
- Serve with mint, lettuce and the nuoc cham. Other herbs and other vegetables to include are carrots, cucumbers, Thai basil, and the rau ram (Vietnamese coriander).
Notes
- I decided to use an uncooked batter since I love the orange-colored sweet potatoes. If you prefer more of a thicker batter, you can include additional potato starch.
- If you do not have potato starch, replace it with corn starch, or rice flour.
- How big do you need to cut your sweet potato? - The size of the sweet potatoes varies on what you like. I cut them around 1/2 inch thick, and 2-3 inches in length because I like larger Sweet potato sticks. It's also labor-intensive cutting sweet potatoes into tiny pieces. But, I noticed that the larger sweet potato pieces are more difficult to fry evenly. The standard size of portions of the sweet potato is smaller. They're smaller than 1/4 inch in size and 2 inches in length.
- Make use of a ladle to make uniform fritters This is something I enjoy doing. Ladles help to make uniform fritters. It is also possible to make use of the spider strainer to accomplish this.
- What should I do if I wish to make more of a thinner batter? - I personally prefer a thicker batter as I love the orange hue of sweet potatoes. It is possible to use an even thicker batter. Use additional potato starch or flour in order to make your batter more dense.