Lava Lava Shrimp (Margaritaville)

My favorite thing to get from Margaritaville is their Lava Lava shrimp, which is a copy cat of Bonefish Grill's bang bang shrimp. Today, I am giving you a copy cat of that!
This recipe comes from the master of copy cat recipes, Todd Wilbur. If you want to make dishes from your favorite restaurants and want them to taste exactly the same, but for a fraction of the cost, I recommend you get his books. I have all of them and have never had a dish turn out less than perfect. I first started trying them more than 20 years ago. He is just about my favorite cookbook author. Here is the link to his site, go buy the Top Secret Restaurant Recipes books!  Top Secret Recipes

Yummy!

This tastes just like the dish from both restaurants, but at a fraction of the price. It is unbelievably expensive on the menus. I made enough for 4 people for the price of one appetizer! You must make the sauce to get the full experience. People who don't like mayo will balk, but I have had several who refuse to eat mayo just lap this up. The secret is the chili sauce and you can find this at Walmart or any grocery store in their Asian aisle, the rice vinegar too, tho you can substitute white vinegar if you don't have any.

Ingredients:

Spicy Sauce:
  ½ cup mayonnaise
  4 teaspoons chili garlic sauce (sambal sauce)
  1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  ½ teaspoon rice vinegar

Breading:
  1 egg, beaten
  1 cup milk
  3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
  1 teaspoon salt
  ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
  ½ teaspoon rubbed (ground) sage
  ¼ teaspoon onion powder
  ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
  ¼ teaspoon dried basil
  8 to 12 cups vegetable shortening or oil
  16 to 18 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined ( I use a whole bag of small or medium)

Garnish:
  1 handful of mixed greens
  1 green onion, chopped (green part only)

Directions:

- Combine all ingredients for chili sauce in a small bowl. Cover the sauce and set it aside for now.

- Combine the beaten egg with milk in a shallow bowl. Mix flour, panko, salt, black pepper, sage, onion powder, garlic powder, and basil in another shallow bowl.

- Heat shortening or oil to 350 degrees F. Use the amount of oil required by your fryer.

- Bread the shrimp by first coating each with the breading. Dip breaded shrimp into the egg and milk mixture, and then back into the breading. Arrange the coated shrimp on a plate and pop them into the fridge for at least 20 minutes. This step will help the breading to stick on the shrimp when they are frying.

- When your oil is hot, fry the shrimp for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on a rack or paper towels. When all of the shrimp have been fried, drop the shrimp into a large bowl. Spoon about ¼ cup of the sauce over the shrimp and stir gently to coat. Stack the shrimp on a bed of mixed greens, then sprinkle the stack with chopped green onion.( I place the shrimp on the greens and drizzle some sauce on it, like Margaritaville)

*Serves 2 to 4 as an appetizer.

Now.... Let me make a recommendation on a deep fryer. If you are trying to eat healthier, deep frying is usually out of the question. This dish will not be half as good baked, so I had to find a better fryer. I did some review reading and decided to try the new and improved Fry Daddy. It only uses 4 cups of oil, compared to almost 2 bottles of the other fryers. It is small, self-contained and has a lid for storage when not in use. The best thing about it is that it cooks the food super hot, it has no dials and no way for you to overheat or underheat the oil. By cooking it super hot, the food absorbs less oil and is more crunchy with less grease!  Take a look: Fry Daddy

*Note: I haven't been paid to endorse either Todd Wilbur or Fry Daddy, just passing on my own cooking experiences!