Prawn Meatball

(Ote-Ote Surabaya/Bakwan Udang)

In Surabaya, this meal is known as Ote-ote (which means "naked" in English) - don't ask my why, while in other towns, they called it Bakwan Udang (prawn meatball). I don't know where originally this meal comes from. But in my hometown, it's a popular snack and easy to find. I can buy it in some food stall selling different kind of snacks. Here, as usual ... I have to make it by myself. Fortunately it's easy to make and doesn't really take so much time.

Category: Appetizer

Difficulty: Easy

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

- 100 g bean sprouts

- 2 carrots, thinly sliced and blanched

- 1 celery leaf, chopped

- 50 g small prawn, cleaned and washed

- 50 g plain flour

Spice Paste

- 2 shallots

- 2 cloves of garlic

- 1 teaspoon pepper powder

- 1/2 block seasoning mixture (1/2 sachet Royco/Knorr)

Directions

1. Grind or blend the spice paste.

2. Mix all the ingredients. Then add 2 or 3 tablespoons of water to mix them well. If the mixture is too watery, add more flour.

3. Heat the oil in deep wok. Take a small deep ladle and heat it up into the hot oil. When it's hot enough, take it out and put 2 tablespoons of mixture and add prawn on the top. Bring it to fry. After sometime, take out the mixture from the ladle and continue fry until it turns brown.