About the Recipe
After trying many variations of breading mixes through the years, I was introduced to Panko, Japanese style breadcrumbs. I find that panko is, by far, the best breading for shrimp and a variety of fish, like cod, haddock, pike, pickerel and many other species. It produces a beautiful and crispy product with very little effort.
You can make as much or as little as you want. If you have a lot or fish or shrimp to cook, you can double or triple the recipe. If you just have a couple of pieces of fish or a few jumbo shrimp to cook, you can cut down the recipe. With regards to the batter, the ratio is 5 ⅓ teaspoons of flour per egg with ⅓ of a teaspoon of Mike's Season All. That should be sufficient for using up 1 cup of Panko. However, it helps to have a bit more Panko than you need to make it easier to bread.
Ingredients
350-500 grams of shrimp or fish
3 cups (about 225 grams) of Panko (Japanese style breadcrumbs)
1 cup of plain breadcrumbs
3 cups of sunflower or peanut oil
3 large eggs
⅓ cup of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of Mike's Season All
Preparation
Preparation
The fish or shrimp must be patted dry prior to breading or the batter might not coat the piece as efficiently. Paper towel works well for this.
Breading
Put 3 cups of Panko breadcrumbs along with one cup of plain breadcrumbs in a shallow pan.
In a separate bowl, combine:
3 eggs
⅓ cup of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of Mike's Season All
Whisk until it is a smooth consistency with no lumps.
Add a few shrimp or pieces of fish at a time to the batter. Using a fork, pick out one shrimp or piece of fish at a time, making sure it has first been completely coated with batter.
Allow the excess batter to drip off then put it in the panko mix and bread it on both sides.
Set aside on a tray and allow the breaded fish or shrimp to dry 10 to 15 minutes before frying.
If the panko starts having clumps in it, as it likely will, remove them as they may interfere with the breading process. If you are making larger quantities, you may have to toss out the crumbs and start fresh or add fresh panko to your bowl. This is a common problem with Japanese style bread crumbs. However, adding one cup of regular breadcrumbs makes it better to work with and produces great results. In addition, crushing the panko a bit to give it a finer texture also helps.
Frying
Pour approximately 3 cups of sunflower or peanut oil into a deep pan or skillet and set the temperature to medium-high.
If your fish is very thick, set the temperature to medium instead of medium high to give the piece time to cook before it browns.
Add a small piece of the breading to the oil to serve as a temperature gauge. Once the piece browns well, the oil is ready for cooking.
It's important to wait until the oil has properly heated to ensure good results.
For the amount of shrimp in this recipe, you can fry it all in 2 batches. Place ½ of the shrimps on a plate to make it easier to slide them all into the oil at once.
Fry on both sides until golden brown. With shrimp, this only takes a minute or two on each side.
Once the pieces are cooked, set them aside on a paper towel to absorb the excel oil.
Serve.
