4 Fritter Recipes to Celebrate National Fritters Day

I was surprised when I found out youtiao counts as a fritter! This delicious doughnut (yes, it’s also a doughnut) pairs great with congee, soy milk and other Chinese breakfast staples. The outside is crisp and the inside is airy and fluffy.

Check out the Woks of Life for their youtiao and Zha Leung (youtiao wrapped in rice noodle rolls) recipes.  

If you would like a sweet version, try ox tongue pastry (牛脷酥 niúlìsū).

Oyster cakes are traditional Fujianese snacks. These cakes are battered in rice flour. 

They’re called oyster cakes but they don’t necessarily have to have oysters. There are many different fillings like oysters, meat (often pork), celery, cabbage, seaweed and radishes. 

Most cakes I’ve had so far have a cabbage filling, but only some have oysters. My mom likes oyster cakes with seaweed inside because it feels less greasy.

For a recipe in English, check out this Singapore-style oyster cake.

Not only is fried milk super trendy on TikTok, but it’s also a fritter! There’s a crispy exterior and a custardy inside. 

Make sure to let these delicious fritters cool a little or else you’ll burn your mouth.  

Emmymade, Nino’s Home and Papa Fung’s Kitchen all have recipe videos to teach you how to make fried milk.

One fritter recipe that my family likes to make is for shrimp and corn fritters. The shrimp has a nice bounce and the exterior is super crisp when freshly fried. Here’s how to make it.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of shrimp, deveined and peeled with the head removed
• ½ tsp of salt and sugar
• ¼ tsp of white pepper
• 1 tbsp of cornstarch
• 2 tbsp of flour
• 1 green onion
• ½ of a 15.25 oz can of corn

Recipe:

1. Place the shrimp in a food processor (or blender) with the spices, cornstarch and flour. Pulse until it becomes a paste. Once a paste forms, remove from the food processor.                                                                                                                                                                                     
2. (Optional) Place ½ a can of corn into the food processor and pulse. It should not be a paste. There should be a mixture of whole kernels and smaller pieces of corn.                                                                                                                                       
3. Mix whole kernels or pulsed corn into the shrimp paste.                                                     
4. Thinly cut the green onions with a knife or scissors and place into the shrimp mixture.                                                                                                                                                     
5. Heat a frying pan and drizzle oil until it coats the bottom of the pan. Once the oil is hot, scoop a rounded tablespoon of the mixture and place it in the pan. Flatten it into a disc and fry until golden brown. You can use a cookie/ice cream scoop for more uniform fritters.                                                                                                                                                 
6. Once golden brown, remove the fritters from the pan. Once they’re cool, they are ready to eat!

Which recipe will you try out first?