Coconut Shrimp with Easy Peanut Sauce
Easy Peanut Sauce
1/3 cup chicken broth, preferably homemade,or use lowsodium canned broth
1/4 cup unsalted peanut butter
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce
Coconut Batter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
11/2 teaspoons Madrasstyle curry powder
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
11/4 cups flat lager bee
2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut (available at natural food stores)
1 pound extralarge to large shrimp, peeled with the tail segment left on and
deveined
Vegetable shortening, for deepfrying
To make the sauce:
Whisk all of the ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. (The sauce can be
prepared up to 2 hours ahead, covered, and kept at room temperature. If the
sauce thickens upon standing, thin to a thick dipping consistency with broth
or water.)
To make the batter:
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, curry powder, salt, and cayenne
to mix. Add the beer and eggs and stir with a spoon just until combined (do
not over mix). Fold in 1/2 cup of the coconut. Place the remaining coconut on
a plate.
Preheat the oven to 200° F. Place a wire cake rack over a jellyroll pan.In a large, heavy saucepan, melt enough vegetable shortening over mediumhigh heat to come 3 inches up the sides of the pan and heat to 360° F. Working in batches, dip the shrimps, one at a time, in the batter; then roll them in the coconut. Deepfry until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a slotted skimmer, transfer the shrimps to the wire rack and keep warm in the oven. Repeat with the remaining shrimps, batter; and coconut, allowing the shortening to return to 360° F. before frying each batch. Serve immediately, with the peanut sauce for dipping.