Firecracker Shrimp

Do you ever get stuck on certain phrases, expressions or words? I know I’m guilty of this in my writing. There are some words that I use far too often and I have to make an active effort to avoid them. I’m not going to tell you what they are either because I know as soon as I do, if you didn’t notice them before, you’ll notice them constantly now. In high school I had a teacher who used to end almost every sentence with “ok.” Sometimes he’d throw in “alright guys, ok.” Or an “ok, alright, ok.” But you could count on him to pepper each of his sentences with “ok”, used almost always as a closing and frequently at the beginning or middle as well. It got to the point where that’s all I heard every time he spoke. On a few occasions we actually kept a running tally of the number of times he said “ok” throughout one class. The numbers were anywhere from 300-500. That teacher was consistent though, he never wavered from his “ok’s”, never thought to change to a different word.

Other people get stuck on a catch phrase and use it to death for a few weeks before they latch onto something else. They will use this expression in relation to everything, regardless of whether or not it makes any sense. An example of that is the ubiquitous “that’s what she said!” And yes, you can actually make that work in a surprising number of situations, but not EVERY situation. I’m currently dealing with someone who overuses a certain phrase that is basically the equivalent of “that’s what she said.” Sometimes I want to just look at them and say “What are you even talking about? You don’t even know!” Said person has also managed to work their expression into song, which they randomly burst into. I think they just like to hear the sound of their voice. The problem with expressions, as opposed to my high school teacher’s obsession with “ok,” is that expressions get picked up by the people around you too. So what will start as one person saying something, will quickly snowball until that’s all you hear. The virus spreads throughout the group, infecting everyone until you either give in and start saying it too or die a lonely, (and insane) death.

I’m sure what you’re all dying to know is where this recipe came from and I’m happy to say it’s time for another round of Jumbo & Jaden! These awesome Firecracker Shrimp are brought to you courtesy of one Steamy Kitchen. I could easily be content making nothing other than recipes stolen from Jaden’s site for the rest of my blogging career but the only problem is that my pictures don’t do the food justice like hers do. She also includes step by step photos which I never manage to do without thoroughly coating my camera in oil and various other edibles, so I don’t do it. I would definitely recommend having a look at Jaden’s tutorial before beginning this recipe which is perfect for any shrimp lover, especially one who likes sweet chili dipping sauce.

Firecracker Shrimp, (From Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen)

25 large tail-on shrimp, deveined and nicked
15 eggroll/springroll wrappers, cut in half diagonally (2 triangles)
oil for frying

Marinade
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp grated ginger (using rasp grater)
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sweet chili sauce
1 tsp cornstarch

Cornstarch “paste” (mix well to form paste)
1 Tb cornstarch
1/4 cup water

1. Combine marinade ingredients in bowl, marinate shrimp for 20 minutes.

2. Pat the shrimp dry with a paper towel. Wrap each shrimp in a eggroll/springroll wrapper half. Seal with cornstarch paste.

3. Fry in hot oil (375) for 3 minutes, until golden brown and shrimp is cooked through. Serve with sweet chili sauce for dipping.