Coconut Beer Battered Shrimp

Years ago I used to live in the St. Louis, Missouri area.  I would often celebrate my birthday at the Bombay Bicycle Club which is no longer in business.  My favorite item to order was Coconut Beer Battered Shrimp.  I worked hard to come up with this recipe one day when I was particularly hungry for this dish.  This is not low in calories but worth it once in a while.

Ingredients:

1 egg *
3/4 cup gluten free flour **
2/3 c gluten free beer or coconut milk
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 c coconut
1 tsp curry
1 T sugar
1/2 to 3/4 tsp paprika
1 lb colossal shrimp (20 count)
3 c canola or vegetable oil

Clean shrimp and devein. Leave tails intact if possible. Pat dry. Place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and place in fridge until ready to batter.

Place 1/4 c flour in bowl and set aside.

Place coconut in food processor. Pulse until coarsely chopped Remove 2 cups of chopped coconut to a bowl

Add egg, 1/2 c flour, beer, baking powder, curry and paprika to food processor and mix for approximately 3 minutes. Remove from food processor and set aside in a bowl

Roll shrimp in flour, shaking off excess. Completely coat with egg/beer batter. Roll in coconut. Return to the wax papered cookie sheet. When all shrimp have been coated, return to fridge for 30 minutes. DO NOT SKIMP on this step!

About 20 minutes later, begin heating oil. Your friend here is a candy thermometer. Place the candy thermometer at the back of the pan but NOT touching the bottom of the pan. Heat the oil to 350 degrees F/175 degrees C. This should take about 10 minutes.

Using metal tongs, place about six to eight shrimp in the oil at one time. Cook between 2 - 3 minutes, turning once. Shrimp should be golden brown. Place on a paper towel lined plate to blot excess oils.

Note 1: Water is NOT your friend when frying. If you have to wash the tongs being used, dry them completely before any contact with the hot oil. Also make sure that your hands are dry so no water drips into the hot oil. Water will make the oil splatter and you have a great potential to burn yourself.


Note 2: The temperature of the oil will drop when cold shrimp are placed in the oil. Increase the heat only slightly to maintain the 350/175 degree temperature.

Serve hot with a dipping sauce.

* We deal with an allergy to chicken eggs so often I use one duck egg with about 1 tablespoon of water or dairy free milk added to thin out the egg.

** To make this gluten free, substitute either brown rice, white rice or coconut flour for the all purpose flour called for in this recipe. If gluten is not an issue, regular all purpose flour will work.