Servings: 8 Prep: 20 mins Cook: 30 mins Total: 50 mins
This is easily one of the best tasting recipes on my website. Easily!
And, as ludicrously wonderful, flavorful, and luxurious as this recipe is, it’s actually just a stealth way for me to sneak my Thai Chili Sauce onto my website. Shhh…
One of my most absolute most favorite taste sensations is the combination of sweet and sour. Those two tastes combine to form an unparalleled peak of pleasure in my mouth. Some of the more common foodstuffs that shine as examples are ketchup or BBQ Sauce, both of which are typically and commonly a combination of sweet sugar or corn syrup mixed with copious amounts of vinegar, some tomatoes, chilis, and a bit of spice. The big, bold foundation of both is the combination of sweet and sour. The rest of the flavor is built atop.
This Sweet Thai Chili sauce really packs a punch! It’s sweet and syrupy, but with a zippty-zang that would make you wince and pucker, if you weren’t smiling so hard!
I periodically make big batches of this, put it in a jar and just pour it on my pancakes (kidding!) each morning. The acidity of this sauce will prevent any bacterial growth long before you eat through the jar. In truth, my favorite use for this sauce is as a clingy coating on the surface of a fresh batch of crispy baked chicken wings.
Or, as a simple sauce for a myriad of stir-fries! Get a hot pan going, then throw in some sliced chicken or pork, season and get a nice color on it. Add your favorite vegetables, like broccoli, eggplants, green beans, and a dash of bell pepper, with a bit more salt and pepper. Stir and cook until everything is nicely cooked and ready to eat. Finally, hit the pan with a substantial smattering of this sauce, toss, toss, and toss again, then serve with some cauli-rice. Your body will thank you!
And, while this is all just an excuse to share the sauce, I don’t want to undermine the tastiness surrounding these here shrimp balls. They’re admittedly on the fancy and hard-earned side of indulgence, but for date night, friends visiting, or just an excuse to try something new, I really cannot recommend this exact recipe, as written, in its entirety. Try it!
Or, just ignore the shrimp balls, make 10 batches of this sauce, bottle it up and smile as you pour it on your morning pancakes!
Fried Shrimp Balls
Print Pin RateIngredients
Sweet Thai Chili Sauce
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 1/4 cup sugar replacement
- 1 small red bell pepper fine dice
- 2 tsp fresh minced ginger
- 1 tsp crushed chilies or chili paste
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp water
- 1/4 tsp glucomannan powder
Shrimp Balls
- coconut oil for frying
- 2 lbs shrimp peeled deveined and divided
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup coconut milk (or coconut cream, if you can find it)
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
- 1 Tbsp sugar replacement
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds divided
- 4 whole green onions (scallions) cut into thin rings, divided
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Before you do anything, chill your food processor bowl, blade, and two mixing bowls. Place the coconut milk and fish sauce in the refrigerator, as well. This mixture needs to be made with chilled ingredients, in a cold environment, or else it’ll break and won’t be smooth and luscious.
- In a wide-mouthed pot, slowly pre-heat coconut oil to a temperature of 350°F (177°C), over medium-low heat. Please, be careful!
- In a small saucepan, add the lime juice, sweetener, diced bell pepper, chilies, ginger, garlic, and salt. Bring the sauce up to a simmer over medium heat.
- Once the sauce is up to a slow simmer, in a small mixing bowl, whisk together the water and glucomannan powder.
- While whisking the hot sauce, pour the glucomannan mixture into the hot sauce. It should thicken within 2 to 3 minutes. This should give it a nice syrupy consistency. Let is slowly simmer for about 10 more minutes, then set this mixture aside.
- Add half of your raw shrimp to your chilled food processor bowl with a small amount of salt (about 1/2 tsp.), pepper and the two eggs. Turn the food processor on.
- Through the hole in the top, slowly drizzle in your coconut milk, until it is well blended. You'll have something that looks like paste. You may need to scrape down the edges and puree for another half moment. When you do this, add the fish sauce. Puree until smooth.
- Scrape your shrimp paste into a chilled bowl and place in the fridge.
- Chop the rest of your shrimp into "chunks". The idea is, as you eat the shrimp balls, you'll see multiple bits of whole shrimp, instead if it all being one pure, smooth puree. This reinforces that it's really shrimp, while also adding a little extra textural and visual variety.
- Take your bowl from the fridge and add your chopped shrimp, ginger, garlic, half the scallions, and half of the sesame seeds. Mix well.
- Set up a large plate or baking tray, with a nice rim. Coat the bottom with the coconut flour. Sprinkle a small amount of salt and pepper over the coconut flour.
- With a small ice cream scoop or a spoon, form small little balls of the shrimp mixture. Place each ball into the coconut flour. Continue this process until all the mixture has been balled.
- Roll about between 10 and 12 of the little blobs in the coconut flour mixture, so you’ve got a nice coating. Gently drop each ball into the hot coconut oil and fry until cooked through (3 to 5 minutes, depending on the size of your shrimp balls). Test one to make sure. Remove them and place on a paper towel, in a warm place. Continue this process until all of the balls have been coated and fried.
- Place the hot shrimp balls into a large bowl. Add some (or all) of your Thai Chili Sauce, as well as the remainder of the scallions and sesame seeds. Toss together and serve!
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