Don’t you just love that recipe title?  It looks like somebody threw the alphabet into a food processor.  This is a quick dinner for tired fishermen, or a big hassle getting ingredients for everybody else.   Since we fell into the tired fishermen category the other night we took advantage of its quickness for something better than a bowl of cereal.  For all you who don’t fall into the select group of fortunates like us, here’s your scavenger hunt list.  Live or exceptionally fresh very small head-on shrimp and grey triggerfish is all you need to find, but good luck with that.  Shrimp might be doable especially if you live near a coast where they are sold for live bait or you might get them from some exceptionally good fish monger in the city but it won’t be an easy get.  Triggerfish are just being discovered by the restaurant world and so they will start turning up in better fish markets soon if not already.  There are a couple downsides to triggers though.  They have a very low body mass to useable fish ratio and they are a gigantic pain to clean if you haven’t filleted a few thousand fish for practice.  Other than that they are god’s (small g) gift to the fried fish lover.  White, lean and firm are the triumvirate for whatever fried technique you have in mind, and triggers are the poster fish for all three traits.   The kara age method is as simple as it gets.  It translates to “dry fried” and that pretty much says it all.  Dredge your fry candidate in plain old cornstarch, shake off the excess and drop into 350 F oil of your choice.  Cornstarch doesn’t brown worth a darn so give up all hope for GBD seafood with this prep.  It’s OK though, the crunch makes up for it.   The shrimp are a little difficult for the timid because they are eaten shell, head, toenails and everything.  Definitely not your standard western approach.  The small shrimp, we’re talking counts around 100 here, are delicate enough that the shell fries up potato chip crispy and isn’t even slightly challenging to eat.  Well, there is the horn issue.  On your first crunch make sure that you have the shrimp oriented so that you don’t jab his horn into your mouth somewhere, that’s not very much fun.   Other than that they are as tame as popcorn.  Some of my more Bubba-esque friends refer to this as fried bait, but they like it so much that on fishing trips I’ve had them go buy live bait just so we could have this while the grill heats up for the main event.  Oh yeah, we had quite a few shrimp left from fishing so some got boiled and I couldn’t resist throwing some on the plate too.  You’ll want to head and shell those before eating

Ebi mongarakawahagi kara age for 2

1/2 pound triggerfish fillet cut into French fry sized strips

1/4 pound very small, very fresh head on shrimp

1/4 cup cornstarch

oil

Heat enough oil to float the fish and shrimp

Dredge fish and shrimp in cornstarch

Fry until they float and just begin to color.  GBD will be overcooked

Serve hot with dipping sauce

Dipping sauce

3 Tbs lemon juice

3 Tbs mirin

3 Tbs rice wine vinegar

3 Tbs sake

3 Tbs soy sauce

1 Tbs minced garlic

2 Tbs sliced scallion tops

1/2 Tbs sliced Serrano pepper (optional)

5-10 drops seasme oil

Combine all ingredients