By Henni Espinosa, ABS-CBN North America Bureau

Jan. 25, 2012

LA FAYETTE, Calif. – The kitchen is Albert Rivera’s domain. He is the sous chef at a hip La Fayette, California restaurant, Metro. He has one mission — to make good food.

Rivera’s passion with good food started when he was young, watching his mom cook in their kitchen in Cavite, Philippines.

He said, “I was always interested in smelling the food that’s cooking in the pot.”

This 32-year old Filipino-American recently won in the professional division of the 2nd Kulinarya Showdown in San Francisco, a cook-off organized by the Philippine Department of Tourism.

One of his winning dishes is Shrimp Ukoy, a Filipino version of shrimp frittters. Rivera serves it with Calamansi Ponzu sauce.

For the Ukoy, the ingredients are shrimp, sweet potato, monggo bean sprouts, green bell peppers, carrots, onions, flour, tempura batter and soda water.

Coat the vegetables with flour. Mix the tempura batter with soda water. Add togarashi powder, a Japanese chili powder. It can also be subsituted with cayenne powder. Then, add the tempura mix to the vegetables. Deep fry for about 30 seconds. Add the shrimp and cook until golden brown.

Serve with achuete sauce and sprinkle with rock salt.

Rivera said the key to bringing Filipino food to the next level is to add new touches to the dish, without losing the food’s authenticity.

He said, “You want to think outside the box. But yet, you have your base. That’s how I make my Filipino food. (Authentic) Filipino flavors is my compound.”

You may contact Henni Espinosa at henni_espinosa@abs-cbn.com for more information.