My husband and I celebrated our four-year wedding anniversary a few days ago, and my parents were kind and generous enough to gift us with a gift card to go out for dinner somewhere. They got us one of those gift cards with a few dining choices available to pick from, and seeing as Blaine and I love Montana’s, and it is one of the restaurants the gift card is valid at, it wasn’t a terribly challenging decision to come to.
I am a creature of habit when it comes to food, and once I discover something I genuinely adore, I rarely ever order something else. Anytime I eat at Montana’s, I order their deep-fried pickles and their Kapow shrimp. Both are fantastic, and the shrimp is arguably the best version I have ever had the privilege of trying.
I thought I would see if I could find a recipe online to recreate Montana’s incredible Kapow shrimp, and I did find one via polyphagicabby.com. Check out the recipe for “Kapow! Popcorn Shrimp (a Montana’s copycat).”
“Ingredients you’ll need:
“Kapow Sauce:
- 2 Tbsps sweet chilli sauce (ie. Diana’s)
- 1/4 cup caesar dressing (ie. Renées mighty caesar)
“Batter:
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 Tbsp sriracha hot sauce
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice)
“Breading:
- 2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 4 cups of oil for deep frying (ie. canola, vegetable)
- 500g (~1 pound) raw medium-sized shrimp, peeled & deveined, pat dry
- Serve with a wedge of lime
“Directions:
“Make the sauce: In a small bowl, mix together the sweet chilli sauce and caesar dressing. Set aside.
“Make the batter: In another bowl, mix together all the batter ingredients: cornstarch, flour, sriracha, egg, and buttermilk. Set aside.
“Make the breading: In a wide-based bowl, mix all the breading ingredients together: panko, onion powder, garlic powder, dried basil, and dried oregano. Set aside.
“Bread the shrimp: Add the shrimp into the batter (from step 2). Working with one piece at a time, shake off excess batter and coat in the breading mixture (from step 3). Gently press the breading into the shrimp so it sticks better. Place the coated shrimp onto a tray.
“Cook the shrimp: Heat the oil in a wide base pot. The oil is ready when it starts to shimmer and immediately sizzle when you add a dust of flour or a drop of batter. Fry the shrimp in batches for 2-3 minutes at a time or until golden brown. Remove onto a cooling rack or paper towel-lined plate. Once you’ve fried all of the shrimp, turn the heat off.
“Sauce it up: Once the fried shrimp have cooled a little, add in the sauce and mix thoroughly. Serve immediately!” the recipe states.
Enjoy, my friends.
Photo by Blake Wisz on Unsplash
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