BN Cuisine with Chef Fregz: The Fiery Shrimp Cocktail

Salut!

A couple of months ago I did this food tour thing which I am yet to recover from because fitfam is not an easy thing. One of my simple but most memorable moments was when I finished dying in Williams Sonoma (a foodie heaven for kitchen equipment) I noticed there was a P.F Changs around. All these years I have heard about it, but not been in. So, I carried my two left legs and entered and ordered almost everything on the menu. Of all of what I ate the Dynamite shrimp stood out a lot. Everything I had was amazing. The tuna with avocado and wasabi and the chicken lettuce wrap. The dynamite shrimp reminded me of shrimp cocktail my Aunty Rosalind used to make, but this had a serious kick of heat and more flavour to it – perhaps the abroad shrimp was just more flavourful.

One thing that always confuses me is how what we know as ‘shrimp’ here is probably non existent in most other countries. What they call shrimp is probably a step from large prawns here. So I have used prawns in this recipe. You really can even use actual shrimp but they can be such a hassle to clean.

I made a mistake and breaded my own prawns whole and fried, instead of cutting into chunks breading and then frying. Please do not make a silly billy move like me.

I am usually not one for serving food in glasses. It is quite a turn off, but I can make an exception for this one. I really wanted to serve it in a bowl or something but hey, it looks sexy if I must say.

For my own spice I made my mayo cocktail mix by adding as much dried yellow pepper or you can use cameroun pepper. I had my own mix of BBQ chilli Mayo. I added some more chilli sauce a touch of honey and the pepper as previously mentioned.

Here’s what you would need [Serves 4-6]

4-6 Martini glasses or whiskey glasses if you don’t have.

The Cocktail Sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chilli sauce
2-3 tablespoons BBQ sauce
2 teaspoons honey
1 1/2 teaspoons yellow pepper powder or cameroun pepper
A touch of paprika powder
Prawns
Vegetable oil, for frying
2 egg whites (mix with 3 tablespoons water)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
800g medium-large prawns (that have been peeled and deveined)
Lettuce leaves or what ever salad leaves you have, for serving
Small sprig spring onions, finely sliced.
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
2-3 cloves of garlic finely crushed
1/2 teaspoon of ginger fresh or powder
A pinch of salt or dash of light soy sauce

How To
Start by cutting the prawns into bite size pieces. In a bowl, season with the oyster sauce, garlic ginger and a pinch of salt. Leave to marinate for about 10 minutes minimum to maximum an hour. If you want to marinate the day before, freeze as quickly as possible. Make sure the next time you use it you cook it.

While it is marinading, mix all the ingredients for the spicy cocktail in a bowl and taste and adjust the seasoning to how you like. Cover and place to one side. Do not put it in the fridge. You don’t want to toss your hot prawns in cold sauce.

Shred your lettuce leaves and arrange in the glasses.

Place your oil on the heat. You want a gentle heat nothing extremely hot.

To bread your prawns, mix the flour and cornstarch (same thing as cornflour) the salt and pepper. Then, using one hand, dip your prawns in the flour. Use the other hand for the egg white mix, then again in the flour mix. This is so that you can have one dry and wet hand or else your finger would get clogged up with egg and flour glue!

Place in the hot oil. Fry for about 3-5 minutes till it is a light golden brown. You do not want to over cook the prawns.

Place on paper towels to drain for a few seconds. Then in fresh bowl, spoon over some of the sauce and toss through till it well coated. Place onto of the salad leaves in the glasses and garnish with spring onions.

Serve immediately!

This could be your winning appetiser to prove your wife material is Swiss lace or that for guys you can form Mr Romantic and it won’t stress you one bit! You could make this for your next dinner party as well or do a big bowl and layer it over more salad leaves.

To make this more fitfam/health-ier use some olive oil mayonnaise or fat free mayo. You could make my avocado dip as well ad more chilli to it that all. the recipe is here 

The biggest thanks to my brother Debayo Rotilu for always coming through. Follow him on Instagram @twelve05photos @twelve05impressions and on Facebook Twelve05 Photography he does weddings, products and of course food!

Bonne weekend!

Ciao!!
Photo Credit: Debayo Rotilu for Twelve05 Photography | Gbubemi Fregene for Chef Fregz
Set/Kitchen Assistant & Food Writing: Omaka Orubu