1tspdried chilli flakes or 1 fresh red chillithinly sliced
Instructions
Start by making the bang bang sauce. Place the mayonnaise, sweet chilli sauce, sriracha and honey in a small bowl and mix together, then put to one side while you make the crispy shrimp/prawns.
Place the buttermilk and egg in a second bowl and lightly whisk to combine.
120 ml (1/2 cup) buttermilk, 1 egg
Place the panko, paprika, salt, pepper, garlic salt, celery salt, and white pepper in a third bowl and mix together.
150 g (3 cups) panko breadcrumbs, 1 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic salt, 1/2 tsp celery salt, 1/4 tsp white pepper
Dredge the king prawns in the cornflour, then dip in the buttermilk mixture to coat and finally coat the prawns in the panko mixture. Place the coated prawns on a plate.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat.
120 ml (1/2 cup) sunflower oil
Once the oil is hot, add the prawns.
Cook for 3-4 minutes, turning once, until golden brown. Then remove from the pan and place on a plate lined with kitchen roll to soak up any excess fat.
Place the shredded romaine on a serving plate, top with the crispy shrimp/prawns and drizzle over 3 tbsp of the bang bang sauce.
1 romaine lettuce
Sprinkle on the chopped spring onions (scallions) and the chilli flakes and serve.
2 spring onions, 1 tsp dried chilli flakes or 1 fresh red chilli
Video
Notes
To bake instead of frying the prawns:If you want to bake the prawns instead of frying them, add 2 tbsp of olive oil to the panko mixture and mix well. This prevent the need to spray/drizzle the coated prawns with oil before they go in the oven.Dip the prawns in the buttermilk/egg mixture (no need to dip in cornflour first), coat in the seasoned breadcrumbs and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 7-8 minutes, until the breadcrumbs are golden.Can I use cooked prawns?Yes, you can use fresh ready-cooked prawns, or frozen ready-cooked prawns that have been fully defrosted. They're not quite as tender, but they still taste great.Can I make them ahead and reheat?They're best when freshly cooked, but you can make them ahead so long as you're using raw prawns. By using raw prawns, you're cooking them once, then reheating them once. If you were to be using ready-cooked prawns, that means they'd be cooked before buying, cooked again with the recipe and then reheated again. That's too many times to reheat from a food safety point of view. So I don't recommend that.If you did want to cook ahead, use raw prawns, cook, cool quickly, then cover and refrigerate for up to a day, or freeze in an air-tight container or bag (you may want to freeze for a couple of hours on a tray first, then transfer to a bag to be sure they don't stick together).Reheat the prawns in the oven from the fridge or from frozen, on a baking tray. Make sure the prawns are in a single layer. Heat at 200C/400F until piping hot throughout. I find this takes about 3-4 minutes from the fridge or 7-8 minutes from frozen.They'll go a little darker then they were when they were first fried. They should still have a nice crispy coating.Nutritional information is approximate, per serving (this recipe serves 4).This calculation assumes approx 3 tbsp of oil is absorbed during cooking and all of the bang bang sauce is used.