Crispy Coconut Prawns With Roasted Red Pepper & Chilli Dip

Here’s something a bit different, great party food or even a sharing starter served with the dip in the middle.

Crispy Coconut Prawns

With Roasted Red Pepper & Chilli Dip

You will need;

120 Gm – Raw King Prawns

30 Gm – Fresh Breadcrumbs

30 Gm – freshly grated Coconut

1 – Egg (beaten)

Plain Flour

Oil for deep frying

For the Dip;

2 - Cloves of Garlic (finely chopped)

60 ml – White Wine Vinegar (distilled white vinegar will do)

1 teaspoon – Muscovado Sugar

100 ml – Water

1/2 tablespoon - Corn Flour

30 ml - Water (for the corn flour paste)

1 tablespoon – Hoisin Sauce

2 - Large Red Chilli’s (roughly chopped)

4 – small to medium Red Peppers (quartered)

A little Olive Oil

The Dip

Place the peppers in a baking tray with a drizzle of olive oil and roast at 180° for 20 minutes.

Put the peppers, chillies and garlic in a food processor along with the vinegar and water (100 ml) then process them as smooth as you can.

Transfer your mixture to a saucepan, add the sugar and hoisin then bring to the boil. Leave to simmer on a medium heat for 10 minutes.

Now pass through a sieve into another pan.

Mix the corn flour and 30 ml of water into a paste, add it to the mixture and stir it in. Simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

That is it you are done.

The dip will be hot and runny, let it cool down and when it is cold it will become thick and sticky just right for dipping.

So put the dip in the fridge when it has cooled a little then you can get on with the prawns.

Although I’ve used fresh coconut you can use desiccated coconut but fresh is best for taste.

Mix the breadcrumbs and the coconut together in a container.

Now set yourself up a little production line of flour, egg and breadcrumb/coconut mix and heat up your oil for deep frying. Don’t have the oil too hot because you don’t want to burn the coconut, 150° will be about right.

Coat each prawn in the flour then the egg and then the breadcrumb mix, then into the oil and deep fry for a few minutes until the prawns are cooked through. Cook a few at a time so that you can keep them separate and don’t overcook them because they will become tough.

Serve immediately with the dip on the side.