Recipe: Coconut Shrimp and Pineapple Fried Rice

Okay, so it's not 100% paleo. But on the positive side, it used everything I had in the house, so I didn't have to go to the store. So…I consider that a win, for a dreary, rainy, cold day like today. 

I always have frozen shrimp on-call in the freezer. They're easy to thaw, ridiculously quick to cook, and are perfect for adding to starches or salads. You'll notice I have basically zero idea of the proportions I used in any of this. Sorry about that. I was pretty much winging it and it came out perfectly. Keep in mind, this makes shrimp for 2 and rice for probably 2 and leftovers.

Photo courtesy of CL Tampa Bay
(since mine was eaten too quickly to photograph)

Ingredients

Shrimp

• Fresh or Frozen shrimp (obviously); peeled and de-veined
• Coconut Flour
• Panko
• Shredded Coconut (unsweetened)
• 1 egg
• Cayenne Pepper

Pineapple Fried Rice

• 1 1/2 cups of rice (dry); cooked
• 1 can of pineapple chunks/tidbits, etc. (preferably just in juice. Avoid anything with syrup)
• miscellaneous refrigerator veggies (I used 3 carrots and about 1/2 cup of red cabbage, but the frozen vegetable medleys of corn/peas/carrots would work here too)
• 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce (give or take)
• Powdered Ginger
• Onion (3/4 to 1 whole white or red onion); diced small
• 2 garlic cloves (minced finely or pressed)
• White Pepper

Instructions

1. Begin with your rice (which is helpful to have pre-cooked, but I didn't. No big deal.); cook it if it isn't cooked according to the directions. As it's finishing, in a large pot, heat up a tablespoon or two of oil (coconut is preferable) on medium. Toss in your onions and garlic first for a few minutes, followed by your veggies until they're just starting to soften for a few minutes. 
2. While you're stirring the veggies around, take the time to pull out a cookie tray and start setting up your "shrimp stations". You'll want to break an egg (1 egg was good for ~12 shrimp for me) and whisk it in a small bowl, have a second small bowl with some coconut flour in it (remember, you can always put more in, but since it's raw shrimp you can't do anything with the excess but toss it), and a third bowl with a ratio of 2:1 or 3:1 (that was more like mine) of shredded coconut to panko and toss in a small pinch of cayenne. If you're strict on paleo, just leave out the panko. It'll be OK. As the veggies are going, take each shrimp, coat it in coconut flour, then dip it in the egg (the flour helps the egg stick), then coat it thoroughly in the shredded coconut/panko mixture. Set it on the cookie tray and repeat. By the time this is done, you'll probably have your veggies finished. Pop the shrimp tray in the fridge just so everything sticks a bit better.  
3. Put a skillet on the stove (preferably cast iron) and melt coconut oil in it on medium-high heat. This is what you're going to fry your shrimp in, so make sure that it has that deep popping sound to it when you flick some water in to test the temperature. While it's heating up, dump your rice and your pineapple into the already cooking veggie mixture. It'll probably need to be in there, if it's fresh rice, for 9-10 minutes or so until it starts to dry out a little bit and brown. 
4. Pull the shrimp out of the fridge when the coconut oil is up to temp. Work in batches of probably 5-6 depending on how big your pan is. I did about 2 minutes per side, and then since my shrimp were deveined, I put them on their backs for another 30 seconds just to get everything fried up nicely. As the shrimp are done, pull them out and put them on a plate lined with paper towels so they don't get soggy. 
5. Finish up your rice with the soy sauce and a sprinkle of ginger and white pepper for another 2 minutes. Everything should be ending just at about the same time, so you should be able to just plate it all and go!

I garnished mine with some leftover pineapple chunks and drizzled my shrimp with a coconut balsamic vinegar (one of the best slightly-intoxicated purchases I've made in the last year, courtesy of Epicurience VA last summer…). 

Enjoy, and Happy Cooking!

CJ