Dumangas okoy anyone?

Okoy up close

It was a hot and humid March afternoon, tired from the heat after photographing the church of Dumangas and a few minutes spent at its cemetery that still contains structures built in the Spanish era. I was already at the town’s terminal, waiting for the jeepney to take me back to Iloilo City when I spotted this lady with her plastic basket filled with something yellow.

As with anything whenver I travel, I got curious and went closer. She was selling okoy, but it’s not the usual okoy that is supposed to be more small shrimps bound with batter and fried into a pancake like form. Instead, her’s is sweet potato (camote) fritters with pieces of small shrimps. Well, her’s might be Dumangas version, I really don’t know but for just P5, it was a steal.

I bought one, just enough to taste it, sans vinegar. The camote fritters were crunchy with some parts soft. A little salty and the taste of shrimp almost nil unless you munched on the portions with the small crustaceans on it. but it was just okay, good for a snack that sated my curiosity.

The vendor’s basket filled with okoy and a bottle of langgaw, or vinegar