Kikiam
Kikiam are a popular street food in the Philippines. They consist of ground meat with a variety of vegetables rolled in bean curd sheets. They are then steamed, then deep fried. The kikiam are then sliced in 1” pieces. They can be eaten as an appetizer dipped in banana ketchup or served as a main course with garlic fried rice.You can use ground pork, chicken, beef, or mince fish for the meat filling. In addition to the water chestnuts, carrots, and green onions; shiitake mushrooms, onions, and garlic can be used in the filling. The bean curd sheets give the pork roll a crispy outside, very similar in texture to fried tofu.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1/2 lb shrimp peeled and deveined, roughly chopped
- 1 large carrot grated
- 1 cup water chestnuts finely chopped
- 4 green onions chopped
- 1 tbsp five spice powder
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp water
- 4 bean curd sheets 10” squares
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Mix together the cornstarch and water.
- Add the slurry to the ground pork, shrimp, carrots, water chestnuts, green onion, five spice, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.
- Boil the bean curd sheets for a couple of minutes to loosen them up. Drain, then squeeze out any excess water.
- Take 1 cup of the pork mixture and form it into a log shape. Place in the center of a bean curd sheet.
- Fold the bottom of the bean curd sheet over the pork mixture. Pull it tight.
- Roll it up tight.
- Repeat these steps until all of the pork is used up.
- Anything that won’t be immediately cooked can be stored in a freezer bag.
- Place the pork rolls in a steamer.
- Steam for 15 minutes. Let completely cool before frying.
- Fill up a pot of oil 2” high. Heat to 350 degrees. Fry for 6-8 minutes, until the kikiam are crispy on all sides.
- Drain on paper towel. Let rest for 5 minutes.
