I think the hot weather along with my desire to be lying on a beach for the past few weeks has inspired me to go tropical. We have 3 recipes in the next week with pineapple in them. Hopefully, you guys like pineapple as much as we do! On the subject of pineapple, have you guys seen these little baby pineapples? I’ve seen them lately by the exotic fruits in my grocery store and my first thought was, I need one now!!! It fits in with our theory of everything is better in mini; mini cupcakes, mini cheesecake, mini pizzas, mini dogs. How could a mini pineapple not be just as great? But here is my problem with pineapples. First of all, I can’t tell you how many have gone bad sitting on my counter because I was too lazy to cut them up. And when I do cut them up there is a lot of waste. By the time I remove the skin and the core, there often isn’t much left. How much fruit will be left of this baby pineapple? Might baby pineapples be the exception to our rule? I have not tried one yet but I am tempted.
When we go to Mexico, one of our favorite restaurants is El Caribeno. The only menu item I have ordered from there is coconut shrimp. I am a creature of habit. Each trip we made we would usually eat there at least twice. I never even look at the menu I just tell the waiter I would like the coconut shrimp. But soon enough I got tired of coconut shrimp, I needed a change. So I started ordering 2 orders of coconut shrimp. What can I say? I really like coconut shrimp. And now every time I eat shrimp Cliff says, shrimp, shrimp. Reminding me of the times that I ordered (and ate) 2 entrees for dinner while on vacation. Now that I have made baked coconut shrimp I can feel less guilty about my tendency to eat 2 entrees!
I really enjoyed these shrimp. They were baked instead of fried but also very crispy. Sometimes coconut shrimp are breaded and fried shrimp with the flavor of coconut. These use real coconut and you can definitely taste it. I usually don’t use a dipping sauce for my coconut shrimp but I really loved this one. It would go great with coconut chicken too. And the best part of all? It was easy.
Here is what you’ll need
Line up the corn starch, egg whites, and coconut
Dip the shrimp and place them on a roasting rack
While the shrimp are baking mix together the orange marmalade, lime juice, and crushed pineapple
Shrimp, shrimp please!
Baked Coconut Shrimp with Tropical Fruit Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2 egg whites
- 2 cup shredded coconut
- 1 cup peach-mango marmalade
- 1/4 cup crushed pineapple
- juice of half a lime
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Whip the egg whites into stiff peaks either by hand of with a mixer. Set up an assembly line with the raw shrimp, corn starch, egg whites and finally the coconut. Dip the shrimp into the corn starch and coat well, then the egg whites and finally the coconut. Place the shrimp on the rack of a roasting pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. While the shrimp are baking whisk together the marmalade, lime juice, and the crushed pineapple.