Coconut and Sesame Crusted Prawns with a Lime and Coriander Dipping Sauce
By Peter G • Jul 27th, 2008 • Category: Recipes
It’s time for the Royal Foodie Joust again! For all of you who don’t know about it click on the link and get on over there. It’s a monthly cooking competition based on using three ingredients. The winner of each month gets to choose next months and so on. The winner of last month’s competition was Peter from Kalofagas. Not only did he get to model his apron without anything else on but he also chose the ingredients for this months Joust. Inspired by one of his own recent creations and his love of seafood he chose sesame, cilantro (thats coriander to us Aussies!) and seafood of course!
I love participating in the Joust as it gives you an opportunity to put your thinking cap on in the kitchen and become creative. I’m not the biggest seafod person (but if I “see food” I’ll eat it! …get it?) around but I will indulge. However I do have a weakness for prawns (or shrimp as our Northern American neighbours will call it…I swear there needs to be a universal foodie lexicon!). They’re a versatile little creature and can be used quite extensively in a numerous amount of dishes. I actually had a friend pick these up for me from the Sydney Seafood Markets. Little did I know she would bring them back all shelled and whole!!! So after a good hour of cleaning them I realised I had quite a few leftover. So expect to see a few more recipes with prawns in the next few weeks!
This recipe was adapted from a cocktail party I went to a few months ago. It was served with shredded coconut and had a sweet chilli dipping sauce. I “adapted” it (need to be careful how we term this nowadays…after the recent RecipeGate drama!) for the joust by adding the sesame seeds and making up my own dipping sauce using the coriander.
It’s a lovely “al fresco” dish and as usual I enjoyed it with a “coldie” (Aussie slang for cold beer). And really very easy. The only real prepping you need to do is get the ingredients ready to make the crust for the prawns. A little messy but quite achievable.
FOR THE PRAWNS
- 500 gr of raw “green” uncooked, fresh prawns (shelled or unshelled-it’s up to you)
- 1 beaten egg with a splash of water
- 1 cup of rice flour
- 1 cup of raw sesame seeds and shredded coconut blended together
- Peanut oil for frying
- Prepare three bowls to get the prawns ready. In one bowl place the rice flour, in the next one place the beaten egg mixture and in the last one place your sesame seeds and coconut. Dip the prawn in the flour then the egg and finally the coconut/sesame mixture. Place each one as you prepare them onto a piece of baking paper.
- Heat up your oil to a medium heat. You can test the oil to see if it’s ready by placing a small piece of bread in it. The moment it fries up and browns really quickly you’re good to go. Don’t rush this step as you want to make sure the oil is ready and the prawns will be cooked evenly. And they really do not take more than a few mins each to get ready. It’s almost like flash frying them!
FOR THE DIPPING SAUCE
- Half a bunch of shredded coriander leaves
- A “splash” of peanut oil
- The juice of half a squeezed lime
- Half a chopped de-seeded red chili
- A pinch of white pepper
- A little salt
Blend all the above ingredients together and serve with the prawns. You may want to change this and add your own touch. Some fish sauce would work wonders here or even some minced garlic. Just don’t over do it!
Serve al fresco with some extra lime and shredded coriander as a garnish.
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Peter G is a passionate foodie of Greek descent living in Australia. You'll usually find him cooking up a storm in the kitchen and photographing all his exploits.
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This looks absolutely amazing as usual Peter! I love coconut shrimp - it certainly is one of my weaknesses and I just love your dipping sauce - and it looks great with the beer! Glad to have you back in the competition! We missed you when you were away!
I just rolled out of bed but a few of these coconut-sesame prawns and a coldie sure would taste good right now
Peter, this little dish sounds great, the crusted prawns look great (though here in Canada we reserve the term “prawn” for the much larger species), and the dipping sauce sounds tasty. I especially like the notion of washing it all down with a “coldie”! Thanks for sharing mate!
Prawns = Shrimp = Nostimo! I fine Jousting entry and your photo turned out great but who needs forks here?
Perfect little nibbles of shrimp and all the good stuff! You don’t even have to peel the shrimp because I eat them shells and all. Even if I didn’t, with coconut and sesame, I wouldn’t care about the shell!
Peter, you always rise to the Joust with wonderful combinations and have done so again. I’ll bet the dipping sauce would be wonderful with the Fried Prawn Cakes you posted in January (which I’ve happily made more than once).The spicy and citrus flavors are a perfect complement for the crispy prawns.
I’m so glad you made this - it’s a perfect summertime dish (even though you’re approaching winter). I would eat a whole plate of those (And I’m totally gonna start saying “coldie” now).
This is definitely a winner, Peter!
Very creative Peter and perfect for the Joust!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My first visit to this beautiful site! Your prawns say this months winner to me.
Oh come on! You have to win. I’ve been voting for you for the last 3 or 4 rounds. This looks great! I love coconut-crusted stuff. I love coconut and lime together.
Exactly how I am using prawns! YUM!
that looks amazing, totally mouthwatering Peter!! Beautiful recipe & photos, and also learned sthing new about Aussie slang (coldie). I would love to make this at home once, the flavours sound fantastic and a lime & coriander dipping seems to be the perfect match!
Beautiful photo…the prawns look delightful :-). Certainly something for us to try.!!
And serving it with Coopers, you can’t go wrong!
How did I miss Peter modeling the apron with anything else on? Damn, LOL. I agree with the other commenters, this is very creative and looks just amazingly good. Good luck my friend!
This looks really interesting. The dipping sauce in particular looks fantastic!
i love the way these look Peter. Usually this sized prawns are very succulent and juicy. The photos have the very lovely casual feel, come n pick me kinda feel. And the styling with the beer is just perfect :p Who can resist that.
Hola Chico! I never use coconut in my cookings but the combo of ingredients sounds so exotic and delicious :D… where do I have to sign to get a little tapa of your creation? Please?
You are so creative Peter. Your dish looks so delicious. Good Luck with the Joust.
It is interesting that you used rice flour. I saw Mario Batali fry up some calamri and he used rice flour as well, saying it made a lighter, crispier dish. Nice to know for us gluten free folk. Beautiful styling of thephoto - it makes feel I am joining you for some shrimp and a coldie!
Well Peter, I’m ready to leave for holidays, but before that, I would like to invite you to my blog for a drink and something else ;D
Have a great… winter!
Oh wow, these sound so so so good, Peter. And they look fabulous, as always. Mmmm.
So I’ve been away and you’ve made the most divine looking shrimps ever?! I am absolutely loving the beer in the background too!
Everything about this recipe is superb, Peter. And the food styling of that photo is beyond impressive.
[...] from Souvlaki for the Soul with his Coconut and Sesame Crusted Prawns with Coriander/Lime Dipping Sauce I just love how great that looks - I can’t resist coconut [...]
Congrats on placing in the Joust! It looks delicious!
coconut and sesame sounds like a fab combination for prawns. not something i’d usually think of but then i’m not the kitchen genius