If you haven’t noticed, I am a fan of all types of food. I don’t care if its a chain restaurant, a Michelin star restaurant, a ‘dive’, fast food, whatever. If the food is good, I will eat it and likely try to recreate it. Bonefish Grill is a national seafood chain restaurant. Its delicious. I’ve been there 6 times and it never disappoints. Where else can you always find Chilean Sea Bass on a menu? Their cocktails are great, service is VERY good, and they have really good happy hour specials. The bang bang shrimp are one of their most popular items for a good reason. They are highly addictive: crunchy, sweet, spicy and tangy. Just delicious. This ‘redo recipe’ tastes JUST like the restaurant dish. I was so proud of myself! This is a great recipe for an appetizer or even a main dish if you serve with a vegetable or even a side salad.
INGREDIENTS:
- Approximately 3 dozen small uncooked, peeled and deveined shrimp.
- 3/4 cup low fat plain greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup light or olive oil mayo
- 3 tbsp thai chili sauce
- 3 tsp Sriracha sauce
- 2 tsp rice wine vinegar
- 2 cups panko bread crumbs
- 1 cup corn starch (keep extra nearby just in case)
- 1 cup skim milk
- 2 cups cole slaw mix
- frying oil (I use the Crisco frying blend)
- sesame seeds for garnish
DIRECTIONS:
- In a small mixing bowl pour in milk and add shrimp. Set aside
- Make the bang bang sauce: mix yogurt, mayo, chili sauce, Sriracha, and rice wine vinegar. Whisk until smooth. Set aside.
- In two other small mixing bowls – pour panko crumbs into one bowl and HALF of the cornstarch into the other bowl.
- If using a deep fryer, turn on and heat to 300 degrees. If using a pan with hot oil, pour the oil into a pan and turn the stove to medium high heat.
- Lay out two sets of double layered paper towels. One is for the shrimp when they are done cooking. One is for the shrimp before they go in the fryer/oil.
- To prep the shrimp, take 4-5 shrimp out of the milk bowl and dredge in corn starch. Be sure to put shrimp in the bowl and then flip. This process will get sticky, like paste. Fair warning.
- After you’ve dredged the shrimp in the corn starch, dip back into the milk bowl (yes the one with shrimp still in it) and then dredge in the panko bread crumbs (be sure to flip over and over until the shrimp are covered.
- Once the shrimp are coated, set on a paper towel to firm up/stick together just a bit.
- Continue until all shrimp are done.
- By this time the oil should be hot and ready for cooking.
- Take 1/3 of the shrimp and put them in the fryer/in the oil. Cook until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes. Pull a shrimp out to test – ensure its cooked before you pull them all out. If they are done, pull them out with a slotted spoon (or the fryer basket) and place on paper towels to dry.
- Complete frying process until all shrimp are cooked.
- In a large bowl, add 1 tbsp of the bang bang sauce and the cole slaw mix. Stir. Place the cole slaw onto a serving plate or platter.
- In the same bowl add the cooked/fried shrimp and half of the bang bang sauce. Mix slowly. Very slowly to keep the shrimp crunchy and covered w/ breading. Add more sauce as you like. I like mine super coated in the sauce so I use all of it. At a minimum you want the shrimp to be bright orange and coated well.
- Pour the coated bang bang fried shrimp onto the bed of cole slaw mix.
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Serve immediately. These taste good hot or cold, but serving warm is best in my opinion.
Note from MCM Staffer Ashley: My mom cooked these last week for my family. They were delicious, and really did taste just like Bonefish. Another fair warning: they are VERY spicy, so you may want to cut down a bit on the Sriracha if you have a sensitive stomach! You can always add more yogurt if you get it too hot. Enjoy! For more of Angela’s fantastic recipes and “Restaurant Redos”, visit her blog at addavocado.wordpress.com.
