Camaron rebosado

Fried battered whole shrimps similar to (but not the same as) tempura, this Filipino dish has a Spanish name but the cooking technique is decidedly Chinese.

What makes camaron rebosado distinct from other fried battered shrimp recipes around the world? It’s probably just nostalgia for most Filipinos. Shrimp has always been pricey so it’s a treat when you can serve a platter for the whole family to enjoy.

It may be the prohibitive cost of shrimps that had led some cooks (and misguided food writers) to claim that well-cooked camaron rebosado should have a thick bread-like even coating. The thicker the coating, the bigger and more filling the piece.

Oh, no! So much is lost when you economize the wrong way. The appeal of fried battered whole shrimp — including tempura and furai — is the contrast between the sweet succulent shrimp and the light crispness of the crust that envelopes it. You lose the right balance when the batter is too thick. But more about the batter later.

Prepping the shrimps

The recipe is pretty straightforward and an average cook shouldn’t have any problem. But, before the actual cooking, there is a step that many people wish to avoid — peeling and deveining shrimps. If you have access to fully dressed fresh shrimps, use them. Otherwise, see the guide below.

First, rinse the shrimps and drain well. Grab the shrimp with one hand and pull the head with the other hand.

Turn the shrimp with the legs facing you. Place your thumbs where the legs are then press and push outward to loosen the shell. Once the shell is loose, you can easily peel it off. The shell might not come off in one piece. If it does not, peel by section.

Hold the shrimp with the back facing upward. Take a knife and slide the blade along the length of the shrimp about an eighth of an inch deep. This will expose a black thread running through the length of the shrimp. The black thread is the animal’s digestive system. Just lift the thread, pull it out and discard.

The batter does not require (ice cold) water

The batter is egg and starch (or a combination of starch and flour). No water whether ice cold or at room temperature. If you add water, the batter thins out and it’s more difficult to make it stick to the shrimp. The remedy of most cooks is to keep adding starch / flour until the batter is thick enough to coat the shrimp. By that time, too much starch / flour has been added and the batter becomes similar to pancake batter. There is no way that frying will transform that into a light crisp crust.

The better technique is to toss the shrimps in starch before dipping them in batter. Shrimp is slippery when uncooked even after surface moisture has been dabbed off with paper towels. It is difficult to make batter stick to them. So, the shrimps are first tossed in starch which creates a light coating to which the batter can adhere.

So… is it starch or flour? Equal amounts of cornstarch and all-purpose flour will work but I find that the most delightful crust forms when potato starch is used.

More fried whole shrimp recipes