My last edition to this month’s theme HOMEMADE SAUCES- Homemade Tomato ketchup, Barbeque sauce, Nacho’s cheese sauce and Instant salsa, 6 varieties of Mayonnaise, Teriyaki sauce, here comes another Asian sauce, Dynamite sauce. I wanted to end this sauce season with a fitting finale of absolutely no cooking sauce. The name itself proclaims its flavour. The zesty, piquant dynamite sauce derived its flavour from its key ingredient Sriracha sauce which pairs with subtle, smooth homemade mayo (I used vegan mayo) and sweet chilli sauce with a dash of honey and vinegar(optional), elevating it to the next level.
What is Sriracha ❓- it’s a hot sauce or chilli sauce prepared in a place called Sri racha in Thailand, from chilli, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt. It has a pungent sharp flavor which intensifies the sauce.
This sauce was a great invention by the American-based Asian-themed Restaurant chain P.F. Chang’s. It’s one of their signature dishes, and it’s loved by everyone. Dynamite shrimp is a renowned dish in this restaurant. The marinated shrimp are dredged in a flour mix, deep-fried, and finally coated in this exploding sauce which bombards flavors in your mouth. This taste can only be understood if you yourself experience it rather me describing it.
The actual recipe, calls for the dynamite shrimp, I wanted to delight the palates of vegetarian and vegan, so I converted it into a Dynamite cauliflower. You could try it with Broccoli as well. I tried, it came out as well as the cauliflower. It disappeared in few seconds after frying and coating with sauce, trust me it was finger-licking. You can visualize the result from the pic I shared below broccoli.
Dynamite sauce is so simple, instant, and involves zero cooking, just mixing the 3 sauces together.
Three major steps involved in preparing the Dynamite shrimp are-
1) Marinating the shrimp
2) Dredging them in the flour mix and frying them.
3) Preparing the Dynamite sauce and coating them on the fried shrimps.
Click here to jump to recipe card!
Let’s start off the recipe with the marination of shrimp and cauliflower. Clean, devein and wash the shrimps with turmeric powder (refer notes). Drain and squeeze the water completely and pat dry them on a kitchen tissue to remove extra moisture. Keep it aside.
Similarly for vegans and vegetarians, blanch the cauliflower in hot boiling water for 2 minutes, immediately drain and run through cold water to prevent further cooking. Pat dry them on a kitchen tissue to remove extra moisture. Keep it aside. Now in a deep bowl add egg, soy sauce.
Then add sriracha sauce.
Add lemon juice, pepper powder, garlic powder, salt for shrimp marination. Whisk well.
Then add the cleaned, deveined shrimps to the bowl, mix well.
Finally add 2 tbsps of chilled soda water (refer notes), and combine again. Let this marinated shrimp rest for a minimum of 2 hrs- maximum overnight.
Similarly, mix all the marinating ingredients(except egg for vegans) for cauliflower. Add lemon juice.
Add soy sauce, sriracha sauce, pepper powder, garlic powder, salt.
Whisk well, finally add blanched cauliflower florets.
And chilled soda water, combine well.
Let it rest for a minimum of 2 hrs- maximum overnight.
Meanwhile, prepare the dynamite sauce, take a deep bowl, add homemade mayo, sweet chilli sauce, sriracha sauce.
Add honey.
Add vinegar (refer notes), sesame oil.
Finally, I added a twist to this sauce, by adding 2 tbsps of mango pulp (freshly ground or store-bought), the sweetness of the mango zips up the sauce.
Whisk all the sauces and combine well to get the zesty, piquant Dynamite sauce
For dusting, let’s prepare the flour mix, by combining all-purpose flour/maida, corn-starch, salt, pepper.
Then add panko crumbs.
Whisk the flour well.
Remove the marinated cauliflower from the refrigerator, pick them and dredge them evenly with flour and shake off excess flour.
Arrange them on a dusted plate (prevents sticking to the plate). Wrap it with cling film and let it rest for 30 mins-1 hr (refer notes).
Remove the marinated shrimps from the refrigerator, pick them and dredge them evenly with flour and shake off excess flour.
Arrange them on a dusted plate (prevents sticking to the plate). Wrap it with cling film and let it rest for 30 mins-1 hr (refer notes).
Heat a pan or skillet with frying oil in medium-high heat. Drop the marinated and dredged cauliflower into the oil. Deep fry till slightly brown. Drain them on a kitchen tissue.
Now to make it crispier, increase the flame to high, and refry cauliflower for a minute.
Stir them consistently and remove after a minute. Drain them on a kitchen tissue.
Immediately drop them in the sauce and coat the sauce evenly on all sides.
Similarly, deep fry the shrimps as well to a light golden brown. Drain them again on a kitchen tissue to absorb the excess oil.
Now to make it crispier, increase the flame to high, and refry shrimps for a minute.
Stir them consistently and remove after a minute. Drain them.
Immediately drop them in the sauce and coat the sauce evenly on all sides.
Garnish with green onion or spring onion. Serve them immediately, the sooner the better. Crispy Dynamite Cauliflower is ready to serve.
Crunchy Dynamite Shrimps is ready to serve. Serve them immediately, the sooner the better.
I even tried this with broccoli and it came out as well as the cauliflower. It disappeared in few seconds after frying and coating with sauce, trust me it was finger-licking.
My Kitchen Secrets saves you when you are puzzled with leftovers. Every recipe in this blog has a surprise package in the kitchen secret which will definitely make you awestruck… 😮😮😮.You’ll visualize how each leftover of that recipe transforms into an unimaginable dish, unleash your creativity and explore beyond limits.
This Dynamite sauce is so versatile, it can also be used as a dip, spread, and dressing. I added a bonus recipe by using leftover dusting flour. I cut the onion rings, soaked them in vinegar, salt, and chilli powder.
Then dredged them with the leftover flour.
Deep-fried them.
And made instant onion rings and accompanied with leftover dynamite sauce, bang on!!!
Dynamite shrimps, cauliflower or broccoli drenched with this zesty, piquant dynamite sauce is a treat to your palates, I assure it’ll be the heartthrob of your little ones..😍😍💞💞.
Recipe card
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Cuisine: International, Asian
Category: Accompaniments and Appetizers
Serves: 2-3
Author: Manimala
Ingredients:
For Sauce:
Mayonnaise – ½ cup
Sweet chilli sauce – ¼ cup
Sriracha sauce – 2 tbsp
Honey – 1 tsp
Mango pulp – 2 tbsp (optional)
Sesame oil – 1 tsp (optional)
Vinegar – 1 tsp (optional)
For Cauliflower Marination:
Cauliflower florets (blanched) – ¼ kg
Soy sauce – 1 tsp
Sriracha sauce – 1 tbsp
Lemon juice – 1 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Pepper powder – ¼ tsp
Garlic powder – ¼ tsp
Soda water – 2 tbsp (chilled)
For Shrimp Marination:
Shrimp – ¼ kg
Egg – 1
Soy sauce – 1 tsp
Sriracha sauce – 1 tbsp
Lemon juice – 1 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Pepper powder – ¼ tsp
Garlic powder – ¼ tsp
Soda water – 2 tbsp (chilled)
For Dusting-
All-purpose flour/maida – ½ cup
Corn starch – ½ cup
Salt – to taste
Pepper powder – ¼ tsp
Panko crumbs/bread crumbs – 2 tbsp (optional)
Instructions:
- Let’s start off the recipe with the marination of shrimp and cauliflower.
- Clean, devein and wash the shrimps with turmeric powder (refer notes). Drain and squeeze the water completely and pat dry them on a kitchen tissue to remove extra moisture. Keep it aside.
- Similarly for vegans and vegetarians, blanch the cauliflower in hot boiling water for 2 minutes, immediately drain and run through cold water to prevent further cooking. Pat dry them on a kitchen tissue to remove extra moisture. Keep it aside.
- Now in a deep bowl add egg, sriracha sauce, soy sauce, lemon juice, pepper powder, garlic powder, salt for shrimp marination. Whisk well.
- Then add the cleaned, deveined shrimps to the bowl, mix well, finally add 2 tbsps of chilled soda water (refer notes), and combine again. Let this marinated shrimp rest for a minimum of 2 hrs- maximum overnight.
- Similarly, mix all the marinating ingredients (except egg for vegans) for cauliflower, whisk well, finally add blanched cauliflower florets and chilled soda water, combine well, let it rest for a minimum of 2 hrs- maximum overnight.
- Meanwhile, prepare the dynamite sauce, take a deep bowl, add homemade mayo, sweet chilli sauce, sriracha sauce, honey, vinegar (refer notes), sesame oil. Finally, I added a twist to this sauce, by adding 2 tbsps of mango pulp (freshly ground or store-bought), the sweetness of the mango zips up the sauce.
- For dusting, let’s prepare the flour mix, by combining all-purpose flour/maida, corn-starch, salt, pepper, panko crumbs.
- Remove the marinated cauliflower and shrimps from the refrigerator, pick them and dredge them evenly with flour and shake off excess flour, arrange them on a dusted plate (prevents sticking to the plate). Wrap it with cling film and let it rest for 30 mins-1 hr (refer notes).
- Heat a pan or skillet with frying oil in medium-high heat. Drop the marinated and dredged cauliflower into the oil. Deep fry till slightly brown. Drain them on a kitchen tissue. Now to make it crispier, increase the flame to high, and refry cauliflower for a minute. Stir them consistently and remove after a minute. Drain them on a kitchen tissue. Immediately drop them in the sauce and coat the sauce evenly on all sides.
- Similarly, deep fry the shrimps as well to a light golden brown. Drain them on a kitchen tissue. Now to make it crispier, increase the flame to high, and refry cauliflower for a minute. Stir them consistently and remove after a minute. Drain them on a kitchen tissue. Immediately drop them in the sauce and coat the sauce evenly on all sides.
- Garnish with green onion or spring onion. Serve them immediately, the sooner the better. Crispy Dynamite Cauliflower Crunchy Dynamite Shrimps is ready to serve.
- I even tried this with broccoli and it came out as well as the cauliflower. It disappeared in few seconds after frying and coating with sauce, trust me it was finger-licking.
- This Dynamite sauce is so versatile, it can also be used as a dip, spread, and dressing.
- My Kitchen Secrets saves you when you are puzzled with leftovers. Every recipe in this blog has a surprise package in the kitchen secret which will definitely make you awestruck… 😮😮😮.You’ll visualize how each leftover of that recipe transforms into an unimaginable dish, unleash your creativity and explore beyond limits. I added a bonus recipe by using leftover dusting flour. I cut the onion rings, soaked them in vinegar, salt, and chilli powder, then dredged them with the leftover flour, deep-fried them, and made instant onion rings and accompanied with leftover dynamite sauce, bang on!!!
Notes:
- Dynamite sauce is so simple, instant, and involves zero cooking, just mixing the 3 sauces together.
- It can be prepared easily with no cooking, just combine the ingredients available in your kitchen pantry.
- Here I used my homemade mayo, you can check the recipe and select your choice of mayo version (with egg, without egg, vegan). It can be prepared in a minute.
- My mayo was less acrid as it had less vinegar. So, I included vinegar in the sauce, if you use store-bought mayo, it’ll have enough vinegar, so skip adding vinegar. Add or skip vinegar according to your preference.
- For Sriracha sauce, you can substitute it with any hot sauce. Similarly, for sweet chilli, you can try thai chilli sauce or chilli garlic sauce (the sweeter version). If you don’t get any of these sauces, try tomato ketchup, but I cannot promise you the P.F.Chang”s effect.
- Adding mango pulp is my invention, trust me it came out so well, you’ll not skip this ingredient in your Dynamite sauce. It’s the extra peppy factor in this sauce.
- The actual recipe, calls for the dynamite shrimp, I wanted to delight the palates of vegetarian and vegan, so I converted it into a Dynamite cauliflower. You could try it with Broccoli as well. I tried, it came out as well as the cauliflower. It disappeared in few seconds after frying and coating with sauce, trust me it was finger-licking. You can visualize the result from the pic I shared below broccoli.
- Wash the shrimps with turmeric as an antiviral agent and also removes the foul smell of any seafood.
- Make sure you do not overcook your cauliflower or broccoli while blanching. Just 2 minutes in boiling water and immediately straining and running through cold water is a must. If you overcook, the chances are you’ll have soggy vegetables on hand.
- Marinating ingredients are the same for both shrimps and cauliflower except for the egg.
- Adding chilled soda water or ice-cold water in the shrimp marination prevents or slows down the formation of gluten while dredging with flour, which will result in a much airier and crispy texture.
- Though adding panko crumbs or bread crumbs is optional, it adds an extra crispy texture to the shrimp and cauliflower.
- After dusting them with the flour mix, you can directly fry them. If you wrap it in cling film or any kitchen towel and give some resting time, the flour gets well coated with the shrimp and cauliflower so the excess flour will not fall off while frying.
- Also, dip or pour the sauce on the shrimp and cauliflower immediately after frying, which will help the sauce coat evenly on it and helps to absorb it effectively.
- Serve immediately after frying, as you don’t want your Dynamite shrimps and cauliflowers to get soggy.