Coconut Shrimp

Two posts in one hour! Unprecedented. Don't get too used to it ;)

The main course for John's birthday lunch was coconut shrimp. He requested shrimp, and since our wedding (one week ago today!) I've been in mourning over the coconut shrimp that the State Room served at the cocktail hour. It was probably one of the top 3 things I've ever tasted in my life. Of course, it being my wedding, I didn't have much time to stop and savor. And since the State Room is a banquet hall and not a restaurant, it's not like I can go back there and order it again. Ever. :( . All I can hope for is that someone I know gets married, has their reception there, and orders the coconut shrimp. That's a lot of "if"s.

So the second best thing was to try to make it myself. Overall not bad! I'd never made shrimp before, and only recently even started eating it. But next to the State Room's shrimp, this was the second best I'd ever had. Even more fun since I made it!

Source
Adapted from AllRecipes, by LINDAV10

Yield
24 shrimp. I only ended up making 14, since it was lunch, and had a lot of batter leftover.

Equipment
The recipe calls for a deep fryer, but I don't own one (god help me if I ever own a deep fryer...). Instead I fried the shrimp in a large enameled cast iron sautee pan in about 3 inches of oil. This seemed to work great.

Large enameled cast iron sautee pan
Knife for butterflying shrimp
Medium bowl
Two small bowls
Baking sheet
Wax paper
Tongs
Paper towels

Ingredients

1 Egg
1/2 cup All-purpose flour for batter
1/4 cup All-purpose flour for dredging
2/3 cup Beer (I used Blue Moon's Honey Moon Summer Ale which gave it a nice sweetness)
1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder
2 cups Flaked coconut
24 Shrimp
3 cups Oil for frying

Direction

For the batter, in a medium bowl, combine the egg

the 1/2 cup of flour,

beer,

and the baking soda.

Whisk together well and set aside.

Butterfly the shrimp by lightly dragging the tip of the knife down the back of the shrimp (be careful not to cut all the way through)

The tip of the shrimp can now be flattened

and can more or less stand up on this flattened end.

Place wax paper over a baking sheet. Set up three bowls, the first with the 1/4 cup of flour, the second with the batter made earlier, and the third with the coconut.

Dredge the shrimp in the first bowl of flour

then the second bowl of batter

then the third bowl with the coconut.

Place on the baking sheet

and repeat with the rest.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in sautee pan until it's VERY hot.

Placing a flake of coconut in the oil should immediately make it sizzle, not just slightly bubble.

When it's hot enough, carefully place each shrimp in the oil.

The oil was clearly not hot enough here. But I'll chalk it up to my first try. It was hot enough for the others.

Turn them over after about a minute to a minute and a half.

Remove with tongs and place on a few sheets of paper towels.

Repeat with the remaining shrimp.

I served it with the Mediterranean Quinoa Salad that I had made the day before.

Great lunch!