I’d be lying if I said I’d always wanted to learn how to make crispy yam bean (aka sengkuang aka jicama) fritters; they look vaguely familiar but I’m not even sure if I’ve ever eaten them.

It so happened I had some yam bean dying a slow death in my pantry when I came across the recipe in the Nyonya Kuih Passions cookbook by Andrew Koh, so I decided to use them up in what seemed like a pretty easy snack to attempt for my Twitch Live Asian Kitchen broadcast.

After cooking and tasting the first batch out of the wok, I decided it needed an injection of protein, so I added some diced shrimp to the rest.  Minus the shrimp and substituting the chicken powder with half the amount in salt would render this vegetarian.

I really like how the fritters turned out – nice and crispy on the outside, and quite light and fluffy in the middle, which was why I thought it worth sharing here.

Here’s my heavily-tweaked version of the recipe.

Crispy Sengkuang (Yam Bean) Fritters

INGREDIENTS:

Batter –
300g plain flour
80g rice flour
80g tapioca flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP sugar
⅔ TBSP chicken powder
600ml water
2 TBSP oil

Filling –
300g sengkuang, peeled and diced
2 TBSP garlic chives, diced
150g beansprouts, diced
¼ cup carrot, diced
150g prawns, peeled & diced

Oil for deep-frying

Utensil – high heat-resistant ladle

METHOD:

1. Mix batter ingredients, then set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Heat oil to about 180C, then dip mould (eg. a heat-resistant soup ladle or similar) in it for several seconds.
3. Half-fill the mould with batter, followed by 2 tsps filling and enough batter to coat.
4. Fry until batter is set, then gently loosen the fritter from the mould. Continue frying until golden brown in colour; remove and drain on paper towels.
5. Repeat with rest of batter.
6. Serve warm or at room temperature with chilli sauce.

The post How to Make Crispy Sengkuang (Yam Bean) Fritters first appeared on Jackie M..