FILIPINO RECIPE: NILASING NA HIPON

Nilasing na Hipon is popular not only as a main dish among us Filipinos but also as an appetizer in family gatherings, fiestas, parties and other special occasions. I usually use prawns instead of shrimp when cooking my favorite Nilasing na Hipon recipe as a main dish and I use small shrimps when cooking this Filipino recipe as an appetizer.

What is the difference between prawns and shrimp, you may ask. One is, although they are both crustaceans and similar in appearance, they differ from each other through the branching form of their gills, but I will not dig deeper into that and so will just leave the matter to the more learned and to protect my mind from mental exhaustion because my mind is almost in its critical level . . . because of a failure in information download ^_^.

Kidding aside, in culinary literature "prawns" are loosely used to describe the larger shrimp variety while "shrimp" is loosely used to refer to the smaller shrimp variety. - (Reference: Wikipedia)

Ingredients

• 1/2 kilo shrimp, medium size, cleaned and drained
• 1 cup cornstarch, for dredging
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil, for sauteing
• 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup onions, chopped
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup beer
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper, ground
• 1 cup green onions, chopped
• cooking oil, for frying

1. Clean shrimp in water and drain thoroughly.
2. Heat oil for frying.
3. Dredge the shrimp in the cornstarch and fry until crisp.
4. Drain fried shrimps on paper towels to remove extra oil. Set aside.
5. Heat the two tablespoons oil in a pan and saute' the chopped garlic and chopped onions.
6. Add the tomato sauce and the beer (add more beer if you prefer a more distinct flavor)and simmer for a few minutes.
7. Season with salt, pepper and sugar stirring until the sugar are all dissolved.
8. Add the chopped green onions to the sauce.
9. Add the fried shrimps to the pan with the sauce and let the sauce simmer until the fried shrimps are heated through or you may choose to serve the fried shrimps with the sauce on the side.