Rosie Prepares Coconut Shrimp.

Xmaskatie came to visit Saturday
and I made a special dinner for her.
 Coconut fried shrimp and my rice and bean moreovers.
 Remember, I don't do leftovers.
 I do moreovers.

I had previously made black beans and rice
 for the Hawthornelet's chicken tortilla wraps.
 And now I'm making moreover black beans and rice.
 First, I grated lime zest in the beans and rice,
 chopped some red onion, a jalapeno, and had a tomato waiting.

A quick trip out to the garden to pick up a nice cucumber.

Peeled chopped tomatoes went in along with the chopped cuke.

Chopped green pepper got added to the mix.

Slice an avocado lengthwise and twist to halve,
 then take your knife and whack into the pit to remove.

I sliced my avocado
 and added the juice of one lime to keep it from turning brown.

Xmaskatie was kind enough to bring me a fresh pineapple,
 so I added some pineapple cubes to the beans and rice
 along with the chopped red onion.
 And my rice and bean concoction is done.
 I'll wait until serving to add in the avocado.

 Now, the dipping sauce for my shrimp.

My ingredients:
 2 garlic cloves, minced
equal amount of ginger, peeled, nuked, juiced, and minced
 (For the umpteenth time and for any new readers out there,
keep your ginger in the freezer.
 That way you'll always have it on hand
 and it won't go bad on you.
When you take it out,
 nuke whatever amount you're using for about 20-25 seconds.
That way you can easily squeeze the juice out.)
 2  TB rice vinegar
 6 TB Tamari Sauce
(You could use regular soy sauce.)
 2 TB orange blossom honey
 2 TB sweet chile sauce
 1 TB apricot preserves
 2 TB orange marmalade
 2 TB Maraschino cherry juice

Mix all together and you get this fresh, fruity, sweet, sour mixture.
 Refrigerate.
 Now, I'm ready to fry my shrimp.

First, I have equal amounts of coconut and panko bread crumbs.

In Dish #1, I have:
 1 cup flour
 freshly ground salt and pepper
1 tsp hot cayenne pepper
 1 tsp Montreal seasoning
1/2 tsp onion powder
 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
 1 TB Old Bay
 Mix well.

 In Dish #2, I have
 3 eggs and 2 TB sesame seeds.

 Dish #3 is my coconut/panko mixture.

I poured the flour mixture of Dish #1 into a plastic bag,
 added the peeled, deveined, and butterflied shrimp in,
 and tossed to coat.
 Remove shrimp, shake off excess flour,
place in the eggs to coat,
 then dredge through the coconut/panko.

Add shrimp one at a time to the hot oil,
frying in batches,
 so as not to lower the temperature of the oil.

Shrimp was ready in about 45-60 seconds.

Drain on paper towels.

And here's our dinner.
 Coconut fried shrimp with a sweet/sour dipping sauce
 and my moreover beans and rice salad
with tomatoes, green peppers, red onion,
fresh pineapple, lime zest, and avocado in lime juice.

I love just plain, boiled shrimp
 with a ketchup/horseradish sauce that clears my sinuses,
 but fried shrimp is in a different category altogether.
To me, frying shrimp really showcases
 the pure shrimp flavor in a way that
 no other preparation of shrimp does.

 The shrimp was sweet, succulent, meaty.
 The coating was light and coconutty
and this was highlighted by the dipping sauce.
 And I loved my rice and bean moreovers.
So many flavors and the resulting whole
 was greater than the sum of its parts.
 Culinary synergy.