Date Night Dinners - Bang Bang Shrimp

7/03/2015 tringel 0 Comments

I am all for easy recipes, but sometimes recipes are just too easy. How can a recipe be too easy you ask? What I mean by that is sometimes a recipe is so easy that it isn't really a recipe, it is more a decision to put a few things together that never truly blend, making something edible but not magnificent. Take tuna and mayo for example, it makes a good dish but when you eat it, it is just tuna and mayo. I am always looking for that extra umph to make it fabulous, something I can't easily pick apart, like tuna salad (an extra few added ingredients go a long way) or a tuna sandwich (the flavorful bread is what makes it whole).


When we found this recipe for easy bang bang shrimp, too simple is exactly what I feared. It looked delicious but it also looked too easy to be true. With only five ingredients for the entire dish, I worried the flavors wouldn't mesh well and it would be like eating five separate ingredients in one bite. On the other hand, I worried that with one very bold flavored ingredient and a few more delicate ones, the dish might turn out to be one spicy bite after another, with no real flavor to be tasted as my mouth would be numb from the burning. Though Brenden may have liked that...


Either way, I was wrong. The sauce turned out to be fabulous, and with each bite I took I fantasized about other foods it would pair well with. I have a new go to sauce. The few simple ingredients blended perfectly with each other - the sour greek yogurt with the spicy sriracha and the sweet chili sauce was quite the trio. It made an utterly perfect entrance into my mouth and was kind of a big deal to my tastebuds, they kept cheering for more.

The bold flavor of the sauce didn't even over power the delicate flavor of the shrimp. In fact, it brought out the shrimp's sweetness, enhancing the flavor profile that much more. For five simple ingredients, this dinner tasted pretty complex, in the best of ways. Sometimes simple really is better.

EASY BANG BANG SHRIMP
recipe adapted from thecookierookie.com, Bang Bang Shrimp

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 lb raw shrimp, thawed, deveined and shelled
• 3 Tbsp plain greek yogurt
• 3 Tbsp scallion, chopped, plus more for garnish
• 1.5 Tbsp sweet chili sauce
• 34 Tbsp sriracha sauce

DIRECTIONS
Mix the sauce. In a small bowl, stir together the yogurt, scallion, sweet chili sauce and sriracha until all ingredients are fully incorporated. Set aside.
Cook the shrimp. Put 4-5 shrimp on each skewer (if you are not grilling - we used a grill pan - the skewers are not necessary). Grill or cook the shrimp on each side for 3-4 minutes, until shrimp is pink and opaque and cooked through fully. Remove from heat.
Make the shrimp bang bang. Coat each shrimp or shrimp skewer liberally with the pre-made sauce on all sides. Garnish with more green onion, and keep a little bowl of sauce nearby for extra dipping if desired. Serve, dip and enjoy.