Beer Battered Shrimp Tacos with Sriracha Mayo

There is nothing I love more on cold wintery weekend that snuggling in with my family for the day. Sunday we attempted church with Otto again. We did great during the singing but he couldn’t help but yell “WE DID IT!” and “AMEN” during the advent presentations. We moved to the “cry room” and after several attempts to keep him contained we called it a day. He kept trying to leave saying “Be right back in a minute”. We decided to pick up a few groceries and head home to prep for the week, make lunch and get the roast for dinner started.

We headed to the Gordon Food Service Store on Michigan St. to pick up what we needed. Joe wanted shrimp and I walked in not sure if I was going to make shrimp and grits or something lighter like shrimp tacos. I decided since we were going to be having a roast for dinner I would lean towards the lighter side. Ironically I still forgot to buy the grits I was going to pair with my roast. Luckily I had noodles on hand.

I browsed the deli case and picked up some pre made dinners for the week and some fresh raw shrimp for $5. The best part? They peeled and de-veined the shrimp for me (that is the only downside of fresh shrimp). I grabbed the rest of the items needed for my tacos and roast like beautiful carrots, garlic, cabbage, and herbs before heading out the door.

I was going to cook the shrimp in a little garlic and olive oil but I remembered the beer batter I used for my green bean and cheese curd tacos and thought it would be so nice and light for these shrimp. The 12oz of beer whisked with 1 cup of flour creates a perfect light crust around whatever you are frying. I lightly seared the shrimp in a little salt, pepper and olive oil before dunking them in the batter and frying them each for about 1 minute. I topped each small flour tortilla with chopped cabbage, shrimp, sriracha mayo, bacon bits and cilantro before squeezing a lime over top and enjoying. This made enough for each taco to have 4 shrimp and for Joe and I to each have 2 tacos. The perfect little Sunday lunch. Bonus: Otto stayed napping so we could enjoy the tacos at our own pace.

Here is what you need for four tacos (you can easily add more shrimp to this recipe without increasing any other ingredients.

Ingredients:
1 pack of flour tortillas. I used the 6 inch size.
1/2 lb of raw shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 head of cabbage
1 handful of cilantro, chopped
1 lime, quartered
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
1 tbsp of sriracha sauce
1 tbsp of sugar
2 slices of bacon.
1 can of beer
1 cup of flour
canola oil, enough to fill a pan 2 inches deep.

Recipe:
1. Start by heating your oil over a low heat to 375. I use a candy thermometer to manage the heat. Shrimp are small and you don’t need a huge pan to fry these. I used my smaller Greenpan and it heated to temperature in about 10 minutes.
2. In a separate pan, cook the two slices of bacon until crispy perfection and allow to cool before chopping. Salt and pepper your shrimp and add a little olive oil to the same pan and sear on each side about 30 seconds remove and let cool.
3. Whisk together the beer and flour with some salt and pepper. Dunk each shrimp using tongs and place in the hot oil flipping after one minute until each side is golden. Set on a paper towel to dry, work in batches. You do not want to crowd the fryer.
4. In a bowl whisk the mayo, sriracha and sugar together. If you like extra spice feel free to work in more sriracha.
5. Top each tortilla with cabbage, cilantro, shrimp, bacon bits and sriracha. Squeeze the juice of a lime over for a finishing touch and enjoy!

This post is sponsored by Gordon Food Service Store. All thoughts and opinions are my own.