Cold, cloudy, gloomy winter weekends are a wonderful time to
browse through cookbooks and dream about all the things I’d cook if only I had
the time and energy. Invariably these browsing sessions make me so hungry that
I end up tearing my way through whatever is most convenient to hand, and then I’m
too full to want to cook whatever ambitious dish I had in mind. It only took
two weeks for me to get around the making this, which is something of a record;
and now I’m going to keep shrimp and sweet potatoes around all the time because
these are fantastic. The hardest part was finding our rarely-used deep fryer –
and you can certainly make these with a regular pan instead (we used the deep
fryer and it turned out to be a tremendous enabler. We’ve eaten more fried food
in the last 2 weeks than we have in last 2 years.)
It’s only fair to tell you that we all burned our mouths
eating these because we couldn’t wait for them to cool down. Even The Hater
liked them – he hates both sweet potatoes and shrimp, as well as anything else
that I make for dinner that isn’t ginger chicken – and the extra sauce was
delicious poured over the beef and cinnamon stew we had as a main dish. Most of
the work for this can be done earlier in the day and you can deal with the egg
whites while the oil is heating up. The first couple of batches will hold
nicely in the oven while you’re making the rest – or you can go all in, and
burn your mouth eating them as soon as they come out. We won’t judge you.
This comes from One Potato, Two Potato, which I rarely get
to use anymore since David doesn’t eat potatoes. It’s chock-full of interesting
information and some of the best comfort food recipes ever, just right for cold
wintry days when you don’t want to venture out to the grocery store and want to
make something cozy with ingredients on hand.
Sweet potato and shrimp fritters
1/3 cup fish sauce
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons sugar
1 small habanero, cut into thin rings (optional)
¾ lb sweet potato, peeled and grated (this was one large
potato, in case you’re wondering)
½ lb shrimp, peeled and deveined and chopped into ½-inch
pieces
3 whole scallions, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated (we use the jarred kind)
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup cornstarch
3 large egg whites
Make the sauce: Dissolve the sugar in ¼ cup warm water, then
add the fish sauce and juice (and pepper, if you’re using it). Set aside.
Heat at least 3 inches of oil to 350 degrees in a pan or
deep fryer. Heat the oven to 250 if you’re planning to hold the first couple of
batches and serve them all at once.
Combine the potatoes, shrimp, scallions, ginger, garlic, and
salt in a bowl. Sift the cornstarch over the top and stir to combine
thoroughly.
Put the egg whites in a bowl with 2 tablespoons warm water
and beat until they’re a soft foam. You shouldn’t have any liquid remaining at
the bottom of the bowl. Stir the egg whites into the sweet potato mixture.
Scoop up a generous tablespoon of the mixture, flatten it a
little with the back of a spoon, and slide it into the hot oil. Add a few more
tablespoons as space permits; don’t crowd the pan or the oil will cool too much
and your fritters will be heavy and greasy. Fry, turning a few times, until the
entire thing is browned and crisp (about 5 minutes in our deep fryer). Put
fritters in the oven to keep warm while you cook the rest.
Serve with the dipping sauce. The original recipe calls for
wrapping these in a leaf of lettuce and garnishing with chopped fresh mint and
cilantro, which is about the only thing I can imagine that would make them even
more delicious.
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