These delicious Chamorro Shrimp Patties are soft, fried fritters loaded with shrimp and vegetables, and served with a fantastic peppery vinegar sauce.
Inspiration for today’s Chamorro Shrimp Patties came to us by watching an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network. Guy Fieri was visiting a food truck that sold a dish that the vendor referred to as Guam-style shrimp fritters, and it was served with a peppery vinegar sauce.
Those shrimp fritters looked fantastic! And as we watched the show, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed my husband Jack was furiously scribbling down the ingredients so we could try making them ourselves at home, and possibly to share here on A Family Feast.
After a little more online research, we learned that those fritters are more formally called Chamorro Shrimp Patties. The Chamorro are the indigenous people to the Mariana Islands which is split between the United States territory of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Micronesia. Many of their foods are inspired by island life and take advantage of available, local seafood and produce, but after World War II, there was also an influx of canned and processed foods from the United States which the islanders embraced for their flavor and convenience.
Along those lines, some variations of Chamorro Shrimp Patties also include chopped pieces of the canned meat product, SPAM – but our recipe today includes coarsely chopped shrimp, celery, carrots, corn and peas that are mixed into an egg-based fritter batter. The fried shrimp patties come out soft and tender – and they are served with a peppery vinegar sauce with a fantastic kick that perfectly balanced the fried fritter.
This recipe yields about two dozen fritters – and I’m a little embarrassed to admit that Jack and I devoured almost the entire batch ourselves as soon as we were done taking these photos! (What can I say? This is a very delicious recipe!)
These Chamorro Shrimp Patties would make a great appetizer at any party, or a delicious and fun-to-eat main dish as well.
You may also like these other shrimp recipes:
- Coconut Shrimp
- Spanish-Style Garlic Shrimp (Gambas al Ajillo)
- Bang Bang Shrimp
- Shrimp Scampi
- Baked Stuffed Shrimp
Chamorro Shrimp Patties
These delicious Chamorro Shrimp Patties are soft, fried fritters loaded with shrimp and vegetables, and served with a fantastic peppery vinegar sauce.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: Serves 8
- Category: appetizer
- Method: fried
- Cuisine: Guam
Ingredients
Peppery Vinegar Sauce
1/3 cup white balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup ketchup
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
Pinch of kosher salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper, or more if you like it spicy
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Fritters
Vegetable or canola oil, for frying
1 pound raw shrimp, at least 25-30 per pound in size
1/4 cup celery, minced fine
1/2 cup carrots, shredded
1 cup canned kernel corn, drained
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 whole egg
3/4 cup canned evaporated milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/8th teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons baking powder
Instructions
- For the pepper sauce, mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Fill a deep heavy pot with about six inches of the oil. A Dutch Oven works great for this. Heat the oil to 350 degrees F and hold at that temperature.
- Peel, devein and coarsely chop the shrimp but leave some bigger pieces.
- In a medium to large bowl place chopped shrimp, celery, carrots, corn, peas, egg and milk. Mix to combine.
- In a separate smaller bowl mix flour, cayenne, celery salt, kosher salt, pepper and baking powder.
- Stir to combine then stir into the wet mixture.
- Once the oil is hot, using a one ounce ice cream scoop (#40 scoop), scoop about 12 fritters into the hot oil making sure you give them a nudge with a strainer or tongs so they float and don’t stick to the bottom.
- Fry for five minutes, tipping them with the strainer or tongs so they flip and cook on both sides.
- After five minutes, remove one and check center. If done, remove all to a platter lined with paper towels.
- Once oil is back to temperature, cook remaining fritters. Our batch made 26 fritters.
- Serve hot with the Peppery Vinegar Sauce.
Your recipe is pretty close in ingredients to one published by our local grocery chain here on Guam. They use evaporated milk too but frozen mixed vegetables. Tastes great every time, and very similar to what my mom made growing up. So I think that one commenter was a little harsh!
Thanks Vanessa – I appreciate your comment!
Martha, if you are going to make “authentic” Chamorro Shrimp Patties, you MUST serve them with the island staple, finadeni! It is a soy sauce based sauce that every Chamorro has on hand in their fridge, at all times! A perfect “to taste” balance of soy sauce, lemon juice, green onions, white onions, and island grown hot boony peppers (roasted jalapeno pepper chopped if Chamorro boony peppers are unavailable). Dip your hot Shrimp Patties in the finadeni and you can taste the love of the Marianas! BTW, finadeni goes on everything!
Thanks so much Buffy – sounds fantastic!
Love that you researched this recipe! I am from Guam and this was a holiday treat for our family. My father always had it on the menu as an appetizer for Thanksgiving and Christmas. You ate them shortly after they came out of the fryer. They are so good. One ingredient you might think about adding: patise, Asian fish sauce. It enhances the shrimp flavor, that umami taste!
Thank you for the suggestion Karen! I can see how that would improve the flavor!
Every Chamorro has their personal family recipe of shrimp patties. I think its great that you share yours here too. It is not at all offensive. Thank you for bringing awareness of our culture. 🙂 From a fellow chamorrita
Thanks Leslie! We appreciate your note. 🙂
I have not made them yet because unable to get shrimps so was wondering can prawns or fish be used instead and if fish what would be best fish to use.
Hi Jennifer – Prawns would be a good substitute for the shrimp.
Please DO NOT post Chamorro Shrimp Patties, that’s is not the recipe and it is an insult to our island. Thank you.
Thanks for your feedback Dee – we’re sorry to offend. We had a previous reader share some more specific, constructive feedback about where our recipe went wrong.
This a local favorite but the secret for true shrimp patties is to use shrimp stock for the liquid which adds that extra kick along with a can of beer which add more air to the patties along with self rising flour
Thank you so much!! We’ll definitely try that the next time we make this recipe. Thank you!!