Bang Bang

In August we visited Bonefish Grill for Paul's birthday.  Everyone shared some of their Bang Bang Shrimp appetizer and raved about it.  Since this weekend is the Super Bowl, I decided that I would try to recreate this treat for some game time deliciousness.  Because I don't eat shrimp, I also decided to try making Bang Bang Chicken as well.

After looking at many recipes, I found one that I would use as a jumping off point.  It comes from Fake Ginger.  I liked the sweet, spicy, salty balance of the sauce from Fake Ginger, but wasn't keen on the heaviness of the coating for the shrimp, so I decided to use cornstarch instead. 

We chose to purchase unchooked shrimp that were already shelled and deveined, to save on time, but I did have to take the tails off.  After cutting off the tails, and cutting the chicken into bite sized pieces, the dredging and frying began.  First the shrimp, then the chicken.  We initially thought to pan-fry the meat instead of deep frying it, but because we made hush puppies for lunch and already had oil in a pan, we decided to deep fry the meat.

For about 3 and a half pounds of meat, the made the following sauce, and split it evenly between the chicken and the shrimp.

Lilley Bang Bang Sauce
1 cup mayonaise
1 teaspoon Thai red curry paste
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
~1 teaspoon minced garlic (from the jar)

It was a HUGE hit.  My mother-in-law, who doesn't particularly care for much spice, commented about how nice the flavor was without being super spicy.  While being fairly labor intensive with the frying, it was a pretty easy recipe, and definitely a keeper!