Glyphs & Graphs

The best recipe for this dish I found on the internet was still not explosive enough for me and had enough mayonnaise to shrink the arteries of an elephant. We’re upping the kick here with an extra tbsp of sriracha (2 to 3) and lowering the mayo (1/2 cup to 1/3). If you’re not a fan of spice or have no regard for your circulatory system, adjust accordingly.

One final footnote; shrimp are harder to find in the UK than the US but prawns are not. While they are technically different species of animal, there’s very little noticeable difference when used in the kitchen. I actually used prawns in my dish – sue me. Also, please don’t actually sue me.

Enjoy.

Serves: 4 as a starter (but two of us polished it off quite effectively in an evening)

Ingredients

Sauce

• 1/3 cup fresh mayonnaise
• 3 tbsp sriracha sauce
• 1/3 cup sweet chilli sauce

Shrimp / Prawns

• 225g prawns/ shrimp. Thawed if frozen.
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup of cornflour
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 sliced spring onion
• 1/2 chopped curly leaf lettuce
• Smoked paprika (for garnish)
• Vegetable oil. The amount you need depends on the size of your skillet. You want the oil just deep enough to submerge the shrimp to about 3/4 of the way.

Method

1. To make the sauce, mix all 3 ingredients in a mixing bowl thoroughly and set aside.
2. In another bowl, crack the egg into the shrimp and add the soy sauce. Mix until all shrimp are fully coated in the egg.
3. In a third bowl, mix the flour, cornflour and salt thoroughly.
4. Individually add each shrimp to the flour mix, coat all over and set aside on a plate.
5. Heat your oil to a medium-high heat, then add the shrimp carefully (kitchen tongs are useful here) and cook on one side for about 2 minutes. Flip over and cook for a further 2 minutes.*
6. Add the cooked shrimp to a clean bowl and drizzle the sauce over. You may not need all the sauce, depending on the size of your shrimp. You want enough to coat each shrimp generously without drowning your lettuce when serving.
7. Serve on a bed of lettuce and sprinkle a dab of paprika and the sliced onion on top.

*Speed is key here – if you have a lot of shrimp, it’ll probably be time to flip the first one by the time the last one has been added to the skillet. Don’t rush though, or you’ll be splashing boiling oil everywhere. Splashing boiling oil everywhere isn’t ideal.