Author Notes
My favorite appetizer has to be coconut shrimp, but I have never been a master of battered and fried food. I am much more comfortable with grilling, and broiling. So when I invited a bunch of friends over and was looking for a killer appetizer, I started throwing a few ingredients together and came up with this sweet, salty shrimp with a kick! —nycnomad
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Ingredients
- Coconut Cilantro Shrimp
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3/4 cup
Organic Coconut Milk
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1/3 cup
Fresh Cilantro
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1
Jalapeño Pepper
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1
Anaheim Chile Pepper
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2
Limes
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2 teaspoons
Coarse Sea Salt
-
12-16
Jumbo Shrimp
-
2 ounces
Tequila
- Citrus Chile Viniagrette
-
1/8 cup
Rice Wine Vinegar
-
1
Anaheim Chile Pepper
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1 tablespoon
Agave Syrup
-
1 teaspoon
Coarse Sea Salt
-
1/2
Lemon
-
1/2
Orange
-
3 tablespoons
Olive Oil
Directions
-
Peel the shrimp leaving the tail intact. De-vein them by making a shallow slit down the middle of the back side and pulling out the vein if visible. Rinse the shrimp with water and set aside in a small bowl.
-
Coarsely chop the cilantro and peppers (seeds removed). Place them, along with the coconut milk and salt into a deep cup or wide mother jar. Juice the limes and add the juice and tequila to the mixture. Using an emersion blender, blend the ingredients until the mixture takes on a fairly uniform appearance (20-30 seconds). This may also be done with a regular blender.
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Pour the marinade over the shrimp and set them aside, covered in the refrigerator for at least 1/2 an hour, the longer the better. I prefer to let mine marinate for at least 3 hours.
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While the shrimp are marinating, mix up the vinaigrette. Simply chop up a small anaheim chile pepper into very fine pieces (without the seeds). Place it in a small jar with the olive oil, vinegar, agave, lemon juice, orange juice and salt. Secure the lid on the jar and shake it to blend the ingredients. Allowing this to sit for a bit will infuse it with the oil from the chile.
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Heat up the grill and bring out the shrimp. Brush the grill with a little oil. I use coconut for this recipe. Place the shrimp individually onto the grill, cooking for 2-3 minutes on each side or until the shrimp turns pink and opaque. They will cook very quickly with the high heat of the grill.
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Quickly plate the shrimp and drizzle a little of the vinaigrette over them. I find 2 shrimp per person is a very satisfying appetizer, especially if you can find decent sized shrimp. You may want to make a few extra, they tend to be very popular and they are best eaten hot. That way the cool of the vinaigrette really pops!
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