Cucur Udang ( Taro Shrimp Fritters)

Over the weekend, my friends came to visit me from NYC with her family who just arrived from Malaysia for vacation.Coincidentally I still have taro or yam and take this opportunity to make Cucur Udang (in Malay) ,literally translation to English as Shrimp Fritter.I served this scrumptious shrimp fritters with sweet chili sauce to friends with tea as snack .Usually Cucur Udang don't consist of taro but I love taro texture and flavor add into it. I recalled many moons ago a hawker stall in Yaohan Food Court used taro in their Cucur Udang and it's was hit! Here I would love to share my favourite recipe with you.


Ingredients

(A)
1 head taro/yam/keladi,about 3 lbs plus (peel and shredded)
1/2 lb Chinese chives(wash and cut 2 inch each)
3 stalks green scallion(wash and cut 2 inch each)
1 large carrot(peel and shredded)
1 large onion (peel and sliced)
*wash above ingredients again after shredded*

B)
1 cup all purpose flour,sifted
1/2 cup rice flour,sifted
1 /2 cup glutinous rice,sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp ground white pepper powder
2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp 5 spice powder *optional*
2 eggs
1/4 cup cold water,plus extra if too dry
*combine above ingredients in a large bowl,beat well thoroughly*

3 cups oil for frying
20 pieces large head on shrimp
Yield about 20 pieces

Method:

1:Combine ingredients (B) in large mixing bowl,water first,eggs,and then flour,beat batter well.

2:Add in ingredients (A) into the batter mixture thoroughly.

3: Meanwhile heat oil at medium heat in aluminum pot or wok with 2 metal/stainless steel ladles into the hot oil for 30 second or longer.Then fill the hot ladles with batter mixture 1/2 full,then add a head on shrimp and top with batter mixture up to the edge.( You can top shrimp on top of the full ladle batter mixture but I prefer to add the shrimp in the middle of the batter to prevent the shrimp from frying too dry on top surface or detach from fritter when frying).Deep-fry the ladle with full batter for 1 minutes ,then dislodge the fritter from metal ladle.

4:Let's the fritter fry in the hot oil for 5 minutes or floated or until light golden brown.Repeat the same procedure until the batter finish.

5: Drain the fried shrimp fritters on paper towel before cut and serve with sweet chili sauce.