oooh! oooh! ukoy!

it's been summer-like weather here in seattle & some of my friends went for a day drive to the coastal town of anacortes, washington.

during summer months, mom & pop stores along the narrow road to anacortes open for business selling local catch of steamed shrimps, dungeness crabs, oysters and smoked salmon. it's not unusual to encounter a car-load of pinoys in one of these kiosks, buying steamed shrimps for snacking. the flavor of "taba or aligi" in the shrimps head and sometimes cluster of orange colored roes combined with the fresh salty-sweet taste and eating the whole shrimp in thier armor is more of an acquired taste. they're too small to peel off, why bother. yeah...we eat them like popcorns.

my friends brought me 2 lbs of fresh steamed shrimps. ummm, they tasted so good, but i did not eat them all, i saved half and this weekend, used them for my UKOY! not the so-authentic recipe with grated "kalabasa" but as we say in bicol "puede pasar". ukoy is always a HIT! really easy to make.
before you prep your veggies, make sure you have a cup of white vinegar spiced with 1/4 cup chopped garlic, 1 average size shallot (cebollas de bombay) chopped, small slices of yellow ginger, crushed black pepper & 1 tsp salt (or 2 Tbsp soy sauce) . better yet, make a bottle of this vinegar concoction. it stores well without refrigeration. one may purchase a bottle of this vinegar concoction (with "labuyo" peppers) in most asian stores, along the patis & toyo section.

here's what you'll need:
1 lb of mung bean spouts (togé)
1 medium sweet yam (camote)
1 large stick carrot
bunch of spring onions
1 lb tiny unpleeled shrimps
1 lb tofu (toqua)
2 pcks mama sita's palabok mix
1 pckg rice flour
3-4 cups frying oil

the picture shows how i prep the veggies (clockwise): carrot, tofu, chopped spring onions, the mixed veggies, shrimps, bean sprouts and sweet yams. with a kitchen scissors cut off long antennas & the sharp pointed whatchamacallits from the shrimps head. CLICK on the picture to see details.

mix your dry ingredients in a gallon size zip lock bag (rice flour & palabok mix). toss half of the dry ingredients with veggies & shrimps in a large bowl, making sure all the vegies are coated with the flour mixture. save half of the dry mixture for later use.

in a deep flat bottom heavy 6 quarts pot, pour your frying oil. set the stove into high. heat up oil for about 5 minutes then turn stove to medium. why do i use a deep pot to fry? to minimize the splatter. i use a high heat resistant rubber spatula & metal tongs to turn the ukoys. heat resistant rubber spatulas are very user friendly specially when scooping the wet mixture. by all means use your non-stick fry pans and whatever utensils you're comfortable with. chopsticks are also good for picking up the ukoys...if you are really really good at it!

measure 1 Tbsp of the dry mix in a small soup bowl and add 1 Tbsp of COLD water. mix to a cream-like consistency. not too thick nor runny. add a few drops of water if it's thick or add dry mixture if it's runny. then fold in 3-4 Tbsp of the veggie mix. with the spatula, scoop & slide your mixture on the hot oil. spread mixture flat, about 4 inches round sizes of ukoys. you'll probably be able to fit 3 ukoys in a pan/pot.

i'm sure you all know how to fry. that's it!

you may ask: why not mix all ingridients together? i used to, but bean sprouts get soggy in the mix. also, once you fry your ukoy... the bean sprouts separates and floats. you'll end up fishing for those unruly bean sprouts swimming in your cooking oil.

IF you want to mix all ingridients - by all means DO IT! the veggies, dry ingredients & 2/3 cup cold water all together in one bowl. as we say "TANYAHAN"- using your judgement. making sure your mixture has a creamy consistency. not runny nor thick. if it's thick add cold water, few drops of a time. scoop mixture with a 1/3 size measuring cup. pour mixture in your frying oil and spread to about 4 to 5 inches rounds.

sometime back, a friend tasted my ukoy and asked for the recipe. few days later she called and said it did not come out right - limp! unlike what i served her - crispy. she wanted to know what my secret was. what secret? i'd rather share my recipies to "kababayan" so they may carry on our "pinoy" traditional cooking.

I DID! she said, when i asked her if she followed my directions. hmmm... what went wrong, i wondered? we had a run through of all the ingridients until i said rice flour. she said MOCHIKO!

AHA! i was very specific to use RICE FLOUR. not mochiko, not sweet rice, not glutinous rice. i'm sure you all know the difference. mochiko, glutinous and sweet rice are all STICKY variety.