Ukoy

Here are a couple of versions. The first comes from Enriqueta

David's "Recipes of the Philippines" and the second comes from
Madhur Jaffrey's "World of the East Vegetarian Cooking".
Ukoy with shrimps
1 cup bean sprouts
a few dried boiled shrimps (omit if you want vegetarian)
1 tsp salt
1 cup shrimp liquor (shrimp juice from mashing shrimp by
mortal and pestle or by food processor - Ken.)
1 cup corn starch or rice flour
1 onion, chopped
achuete seeds (generally for colouring, I suppose either a
small bit of turmeric mixed with a small bit of paprika might
do, or red food colouring. Otherwise, if the appearance is not
important to you, omit this.)
2 eggs well beaten
oil for frying
vinegar, pepper, garlic and salt
Dissolve corn starch or rice flour in about 1/4 c water with
achuete colouring. Mix thoroughly starch-mixture, salt, shrimp
liquor, onion and well-beaten eggs until a smooth batter is
obtained. Add bean sprouts. Heat oil in a deep frying pan and
pour about 1/4 cup of the batter at a time. Gather all particles
together and lay pieces of boiled shrimps on the surface. Fry
until golden brown. Drain and serve with vinegar-garlic sauce.
Ukoy (Vegetable Fritters)
1 cup all-purpose unbleached white flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 large egg
1 cup cold water
vegetable oil for shallow frying
2 cup peeled and coarsely grated butternut squash
1 cup bean sprouts, washed, drained thoroughly, patted as

dry as possible
3 scallions, cut into 2-in pieces and then cut lengthwise into
fine strips
Make the batter by sifting the flour, baking soda, salt, and
pepper together in a large bowl. Beat the egg in a separate
smaller bowl and slowly add the water to it. Then slowly add
the egg-water mixture to the flour mixture, beating as you do
so.
Heat 1/2 inch oil in a skillet over a medium flame. The ideal
temperature for frying the fritters is between 350 F and 375 F.
Put the grated squash, bean sprouts and scallions into the
batter and mix. Remove heaping tablespoons of the fritter
mixture and drop gently into the skillet. Fry for about 3 minutes
on each side or until firtters are a nice medium-brown colour. If
the fritters begin to brown too fast, turn the heat down.
Remove fritters with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels
or on a wire mesh rack. Do all fritters this way, putting only as
many in the oil as the skillet will hold easily.
Serve hot, with small, individual bowls of your choice of dipping
sauces.
Note: All Filipino sweets are considered veg, so refer to other
places for them.