Okoy

I remember going with my mother to buy okoy in a Chinese restaurant somewhere in Binondo. I can still remember the smoke, the smell and the clattering of cooking utensils and waiters going to and fro. Everytime we had okoy for lunch, my mother studied all the okoys she bought to determine its ingredients. She made her own recipe.

Ingredients: ¼ kilo fresh alamang or shrimp; ½ cup powdered malagkit; 1 cup hot water; 2 tbsp achuete oil, ground pepper, salt, msg.

Thoroughly wash and drain the fresh alamang or shrimp. Meanwhile, dissolve powdered malagkit in hot water. Add achuete oil, salt, pepper, msg. Blend batter well until consistent. In a pan, heat oil enough for deep frying. Add to the batter well drained fresh alamang just before frying to avoid thinning of batter. Pour about ¼ cup and fry until crispy. Drain excess oil in paper towel. Serve with your favorite dip. The best dip for me is vinegar with chopped garlic.

Other version of okoy has mongo sprout and/or shredded unripe papaya in addition to alamang or shrimps. If you use shrimp, be sure to remove the "horn" and the "hair" from its head.