Ukoy
Ukoy (Shrimp Fritters)
Crispy Filipino ukoy—shrimp, togue, and carrots fried into lacy fritters with vinegar-garlic dip; street-food crunch you can make at home.
Serves 6 · 40m total
The Story
Ukoy is a shrimp that invited vegetables to a fryer and nobody went home. The name is Visayan-adjacent street food energy: a lacy, crunchy disc that shatters when you bite it, with a whole shrimp sitting in the middle like it paid for the table.
This is merienda for people who want something fried but also want to claim there's vegetables involved. Togue, carrots, maybe squash—then shrimp, then batter thin enough to lace, not thick enough to become a pancake. If your ukoy looks like a hockey puck, you used too much batter and we will talk about your choices.
The sawsawan is vinegar, garlic, and chili—the same personality as tokwa't baboy's cousin. Dunk aggressively. Eat standing. Pretend it's light because of the sprouts. The oil knows the truth. The vinegar is there to keep the relationship honest.
Best paired with
Garlic-vinegar sawsawan, garlic rice if you're making it dinner, and calamansi if you want extra attitude.
Use it in these KusinaPH recipes
Lola's Tips
- ✦Batter should be thin—lace, not pancake. You should see the shrimp through it.
- ✦Don't crowd the pan. Crowded ukoy steams and becomes floppy sadness.
- ✦Small shrimp with heads on look more street-cart. Peeled shrimp still crunch. Both are legal.
- ✦Fry until the edges are deep gold. Pale ukoy is a suggestion, not a fritter.
- ✦Vinegar sawsawan is mandatory. Ketchup is a plot twist we did not ask for.
Substitutions
- small shrimp → chopped large shrimp or even leftover fish flakes
- togue (bean sprouts) → thin kalabasa strips or extra carrot
- annatto water → skip for paler ukoy—still crunchy, less sunset
Ingredients
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Instructions
- 1
Toss shrimp, togue, carrot, and green onions in a bowl. This is the nest. If it already looks like a salad, good—we're about to ruin it in the best way.
- 2
Whisk flour, cornstarch, egg, cold water, salt, pepper, and achuete water if using. Batter should ribbon off the whisk, not plop. Thick batter makes ukoy that could stop a door.
- 3
Heat a generous layer of oil in a pan. Scoop a handful of the mix, dip lightly in batter, press into a loose disc, and slide it in. One proud shrimp on top if you're feeling extra. Fry 2–3 minutes per side until lacy and golden.
- 4
Drain on a rack. Mix vinegar, garlic, minced red onion, whole siling labuyo, and a pinch of salt for sawsawan. Taste. It should make you blink.
- 5
Arrange the ukoy in a ring around the sauce bowl like they are guarding it. Cilantro and calamansi on the side if you want to look like you planned this. Dunk, crunch, repeat. Ukoy does not do leftovers with dignity.
Kitchen Timer · 20 min prep first
20:00
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