Deep Fried Italian Panko Shrimps

Have you ever wonder how the chef deep-fried the shrimps without it curled up?  One time when we were visiting our friend's restaurant, her chef made a similar dish for my girls.  His was without seasonings, just dip in flour, then beaten egg, then panko and deep fried.  What caught my eyes was that the shrimps were not curled up so of course I had to pick one to examining it.  When I tasted the shrimp, I sort of gotten the idea of how it was made.  I would share with you the secret in my next page.

I found the unseasoned one quite bland, so I seasoned mine and added dried herbs.  We all loved this, but who could resist this type of fried food anyway?  Flavorful and crispy, hard to stop at a few.

Ingredients:

18 Extra large shrimps (26-30/lb), cleaned and cut like picture below, set aside.  Notice how I cut the shrimp?  It will straighten the shrimp and won't make it curl when deep-frying.

• Self-raising flour, about 3 heap Tbsp.
• Italian seasonings, few dashes
• Salt, 1 tsp.
• Peppers, 1/2 tsp.
• Water as needed
• 
  
• Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), as needed

Method:

1.   In a bowl, add in appropriate self-raising flour (depending on how many shrimps you want to make), add in some Italian seasoning and season with salt and peppers.  Then, slowly pour in a little water at a time while stirring the mixture into a thick batter.

2.  In another bowl, pour in the panko (as needed).  You can omit the panko if you don't have it on hand.

3.  Heat up a wok with medium heat oil.  Take a piece of the shrimp, dip into the batter and then coat it well with panko and slowly place into the hot oil and deep-fry until golden brown.  You can put 4 shrimps to deep-fry at one go.  Drain on paper towel and serve hot with the condiment of your choice.  Or serve it plain without condiment since it's already seasoned.

Alternative:  You can dip the shrimp into beaten egg, and then the seasoned panko (add the seasonings into the panko and mixed well), before deep-frying.