Vegetable and Shrimp TwiGim

Hi Everyone! Sometime ago, I had to bring something delicious for our church’s potluck. I decided to make this tasty deep fried vegetable dish and received good comments about it. 😉 The reason I wanted to make this for the party is that it is not only delicious, but it is also a good finger food. Although maybe the best thing is that it tastes good when it’s hot or not. So you can make them ahead of the time before your party. 😉 Anyway, I can finally share my deep-fried vegetable recipe with you and I’m super excited about it now. You can make a vegetarian version by omitting the seafood, as is customary, although it is even more savory with the added shrimp. I will also share my secret batter for delicious deep-fried food without using the prepackaged Korean Frying mix flour, for people who cannot find those mixes at stores near them. So, let’s get started.

Yield: 30 Pieces

Short Korean Lesson

• ChuSeok (추석) = Korean Thanksgiving
• MyeongJeol (명절) = Holiday

Video Instructions

Main Ingredients:

• 3 Cups Onions
• 2 Cups Sweet Potatoes
• 1 Cup Yellow Potato
• 1 Cup Carrot
• 1 Cup Green Onions
• 1 Cup Medium-sized Shrimp
• ½ Tbsp Sugar
• ½ tsp Salt

Batter Option 1 Ingredients: (Shortcut Version)

• 1 Cup Cold Water
• 1 Cup Korean Frying Mix Flour
• ¼ Cup Cornstarch

Batter Option 2 Ingredients:

• 1 Generous Cup Cold Water
• 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• ¼ Cup Cornstarch
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Onion Powder
• ½ tsp Garlic Powder
• ¼ Generous tsp Salt
• ⅛ tsp Black Pepper

Directions

As I mentioned briefly above, I will show you 2 different ways to make the batter in this recipe. You can simply use Korean frying mix to make your deep-fried food delicious and crispy because that mix has different ingredients, including the flour. So, add 1 cup of Korean frying mix flour and ¼ cup of cornstarch to a mixing bowl. Cornstarch is a secret ingredient that helps the deep-fried food become extra crispy. Mix it together.

If you don’t have the Korean frying mix, then, don’t worry. You can make it from a scratch and this is how you do it: Add all the ingredients for Batter 2 except the water: 1 cup all-purpose flour, ¼ cup cornstarch, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp onion powder, ½ tsp garlic powder, ¼ generous tsp salt, and ⅛ tsp black pepper to a mixing bowl. Mix everything together.

Pour 1 cup of cold water into the batter for option 1 – or pour 1 generous cup of cold water to the option 2 batter. Cold water is another secret ingredient for crispy results.

Mix everything well and cover it with some plastic wrap. Chill it in the refrigerator while preparing the other ingredients.

Prepare various kinds of vegetables. I picked these for the best match in color and flavor.

Chop 2 cups sweet potatoes, 1 cup potato, and 1 cup carrot into about 2 inch thin strips. Slice 3 cups worth of onions thinly. Finally, cut 1 cup green onions into 2 inch pieces. If some of the green onions are too thick, cut them in half or more.

Season the chopped vegetables with ½ Tbsp of sugar and ½ tsp of salt.

Mix everything gently and set it aside for about 10 minutes.

Preheat the oil for deep frying in a pot. The right temperature for it is about 350 F. After 10 minutes, add the batter to the seasoned vegetables. Up until now, you made deep-fried vegetable batter for the vegetarian version.

Personally, I really like to make it more flavorful, so I will add 1 cup of chopped shrimp into the batter and mix everything one more time. I got medium-sized shrimp and cut each piece in half vertically.

Get a big spoonful of vegetables and flatten them out on a surface like a spatula before placing them into the oil. This way you will get nicely shaped pieces later.

Drop a little bit of the batter into the oil to check if the oil is ready. If the batter floats to the surface in about 2 seconds, it is ready. Push the vegetables off of your spatula and into the heated oil slowly and carefully. Push the vegetables back together with chopsticks or tongs in the oil, so they stick together well enough.

Fry for about 5 minutes per side, or until both sides become nicely golden brown.

When they are done frying, take them out of the oil and set them on a big plate or baking sheet with some paper towel to cool.

 

If it was not a deep-fried food, I could seriously eat this every other day – lol – it is that good. Both the vegetarian and shrimp versions are delicious. I hope you will get the chance to try this someday. If you make these for a potluck meal, you will get many positive comments. 🙂