Bánh Tôm (Vietnamese Shrimp and Sweet Potato Fritters)

Step 1

Place the hot water and sugar in a heat-proof jar and stir until sugar dissolves. Add the rest of the ingredients. Let it cool and then store it in a jar container in the refrigerator. It will keep for about a week

Step 2

You can leave the shell and tail on or you can remove the shell and leave the tail on. Either way, you want to devein the shrimp. If you leave the shell on, you can use a kitchen shears to cut through the shell on the back to remove the vein

Step 3

Mix the shrimp with salt, garlic powder, ground white pepper and cornstarch. Set it aside while you prepare other things

Step 4

Peel and cut the sweet potato into 1/4-inch thick rounds and then stack 4-5 rounds and cut into about 1/4-inch wide and about 3-4 inches long

Step 5

Soak these potatoes in water. Add salt and vinegar. Let them soak for 30 minutes. Drain off the water and rinse potato with the salt and then pat them dry with absorbent paper towel and set aside

Step 6

Combine rice flour, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, salt, turmeric powder, baking powder, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the water and whisk until you get a runny batter with no lumps. Cover and let the batter rests for 15 minutes

Step 7

Preheat cooking oil over medium heat, about 2 inches high. You want to make sure there's enough oil to get a good result. When you put a skewer in, there will be lots of bubbles around it. The oil is ready

Step 8

Put about 10-15 sweet potato sticks in the batter and then scoop them up with a spoon and gently lower into the oil to let them fry for about 1 minute and then dip a piece of shrimp in the batter and put on top of the sweet potato and let it them fry for about 4-5 minutes or until the shrimp turn pink and crispy

Step 9

Remove from the oil and put on an absorbent paper towel. Continue with the rest of the batter, sweet potato sticks and shrimp

Step 10

Once you are done frying all of them, bring the oil back to hot. Remove crumbs in the oil if any. Start from the first one that you fried and put it back into the oil and let it fry for about 1 minute or less. This round will be quick. We just want to crisp the fritter up. Fry until they are golden brown and crispy. Remove and put on absorbent paper towel

Step 11

Keep them on a cooling rack in the oven at 200 F (93 C) to keep them warm and crispy when you fry the rest

Step 12

Serve them while they are warm and crispy with some lettuce and fresh herbs like mints, cilantro leaves and nuoc mam cham sauce. Alternatively, you can also serve with store-bought sweet chili sauce or any chili sauce of your choice if you prefer