Tapas Recipe: Tortillitas de Camaron

Tortillitas de Camaron (little crisp prawn cakes)

Ingredients for 12 tortillitas:

100 grams camarones (peeled or whole)                                                               100 grams wheat flour

1 large glass of cold water                                                                                         Half teaspoonful salt

1 spring onion                                                                                                              Fresh parsley

50 grams chick pea flour (optional for colour and texture, you can use 150g wheat flour instead)

Mix the two flours in a large bowl, add the finely chopped spring onion and roughly chopped parsley (amount to taste), add salt and finely chopped camarones (best when peeled, really).

Mix thoroughly the contents of the bowl with a fork and slowly add the water, stirring all the time to achieve a yoghurt-like consistency. It is important that the camaron/shrimp/prawn sticks to the mixture.

Put plenty of olive oil into a frying pan – the widest available – and heat it. It needs to be very hot but not steaming or smoking. Add a small amount of the mixture and spread it a bit, the tortillitas need to be quite thin (it is a bit like pancakes), fry on both sides till golden and see how it is. Any adjustments can be made now, but if all is well fry up the rest. Once fried, remove from pan and let the tortillitas cool on some kitchen towel to absorb excess oil. That’s it! Ready to eat!  Time to pour the Fino or Manzanilla!

Note: Camarones are tiny shrimps found in Cadiz Bay. As an alternative, it is best to use unfrozen prawns, as frozen ones contain a lot of water.