Crispy Sitaw and Crispy Kamote Recipe

IMAGE Majoy Siason | Styling by Lady Badoy

Appetizers can range from hearty bites of lumpiang Shanghai or it can be biscuits loaded with savory or sweet toppings. It can also be simple fare made irresistible with its crispy texture like these crispy sitaw and kamote bites. 

This crispy sitaw and crispy kamote recipe is one of six recipes that we are featuring as our recommended recipes for your Noche Buena handaan. As one of Yummy's December digital cover recipes, this delicious dish is sure to make your Noche Buena feast a sure hit with everyone at your Christmas party.

What Is Crispy Sitaw and Crispy Kamote? 

Crispy veggies make delightful appetizers for any spread, and these are exactly that. A thin batter is made to lightly coat vegetables that cook quickly in hot oil. You can use sitaw (string beans) and kamote (sweet potatoes) like we did in this recipe or you can swap these out for other vegetables that you love more.

String beans are easy to dip into batter and cook extremely fast. Kamote or sweet potatoes, when sliced into thin rounds or sticks, also cook quickly and become tender in mere minutes. Kangkong or water spinach is another appetizing (and popular) veggie that you can use with this crispy batter as well. 

How To Serve Crispy Sitaw and Crispy Kamote 

Crispy food is best served with a dip, and these crispy veggies are no exception! You can make an even more flavorful dip by hacking mayonnaise. Make an easy garlic mayo by adding chopped garlic to mayonnaise or making spicy mayo by stirring Korean gochujang into mayo. You can even make it even more simple by just serving it with just mayo. No fuss necessary! 

How To Make Crispy Sitaw and Crispy Kamote 

 

Dunk kamote sticks into a thin batter to make these crispy snacks! Perfect with different kinds of dips!

Photo by Majoy Siason | Styling by Lady Badoy

 

String beans or sitaw make great appetizers when coated in a thin crispy batter.

Photo by Majoy Siason | Styling by Lady Badoy

 

These may look like Mojos but these sweet potatoes or kamoteng kahel are just as delicious, especially when served with different dips and sauces.

Photo by Majoy Siason | Styling by Lady Badoy

This may be the simplest batter you will ever make! The resulting batter creates super crispy bites that you'll definitely want to munch on. The batter starts with equal parts flour and cornstarch. Season this with salt and pepper. (Feel free to get creative and add herbs and spices to the flour mix to give it extra flavor.) 

Then soda water is added and whisked in to create the simple batter. This is key to the crisp texture of this batter. The soda water contains bubbles from the carbonation, just like sodas, but without any flavor since it's just water. That's why the flour-cornstarch mixture needs to be seasoned well. 

Dip the vegetable pieces into this batter and place into the hot oil. Once the coating is crispy and the vegetables just tender, take these out and drain on a rack over paper towels to catch excess oil. 

Tips To Make The Best Crispy Sitaw and Crispy Kamote 

1 Adjust the consistency of the batter. 

As with many baking batters, you want to check the consistency of the batter. Here's a quick guide on what the consistency should be like according to how you like your crispy sitaw and kamote: 

• • If you like your crispy vegetables with a light and thin coating, add all the soda water to the flour-cornstarch mixture until it's thin and liquid in consistency. It should coat the vegetables very lightly. 
• • If you like the vegetables with a thicker coating, add less soda water. The consistency should be like a thin sauce. It should coat the vegetables just enough. 

2 Fry over low heat. 

Since these vegetables do not need much time to cook and neither does the batter, it's best to heat up your oil and then lower the heat. You want to cook the vegetables over low heat so you don't burn the coating before the vegetables are tender and cooked through. You can test the heat of the oil by dropping a bit of the batter into it and seeing if it immediately cooks. 

How To Store Crispy Sitaw and Crispy Kamote 

Storing anything crispy will almost always result in soggy bits. This is normal because moisture is a natural part of food. If you do store these crispy vegetables, store these lined with paper towels so excess moisture will be absorbed by the paper, not the vegetables. 

Ensuring that the vegetables are not wet with moisture makes it easy to pop back in hot oil, in the air fryer, or even an oven to become crispy again. 

Crispy Sitaw and Crispy Kamote Recipe