learning to cook has been such a fun journey thus far.
one of the coolest parts is learning new techniques! adding to your arsenal of cooking skills is an instant confidence booster behind the kitchen battlelines, it makes new recipes seem like a down-hill journey instead of a daily chore. 
being in my late twenties, the first collection of recipes i gravitated towards were more on the healthy side of the fence.. honey-habanero salmon, grilled veggie stack, lemon chicken – you get the idea.
but, sometimes an awesome fried fish taco would come across my pinterest feed + i would get all heart-eyed-emoji. then. i would quickly remember that frying was not yet in my skill set.
truth be told, it wasn’t the cheat day aura of fried things that kept me away.. i was actually SO nervous to learn how to fry something. all that hot oil + sizzling seemed incredibly intimidating.
so one adventurous afternoon, i could no longer suppress my coconut shrimp cravings + i went for it!
set the pot on the stove, glugged the oil in, heated it up + surrendered my first little coconut shrimp into the golden sea of crackling oil… guess what happened?
the little shrimper turned out perfect! perfectly brown! perfectly crunchy! perfectly cooked!
instantly, my confidence went through the roof, i then convinced myself i was a frying master + i served up a coconut shrimp dish that any restaurant would be proud of! {well.. maybe the applebees kind, not the michelin star kind}
what goes best with a fried dish? a treadmill dipping sauce!
so the orange-dijon dipping marmalade was born.
i combined delicious dip gems that caught my eye into this cooling yet flavorful dipping sauce!
there’s sweet from the orange marmalade, there’s heat from the dijon + there’s a zing from the chili paste. it’s a dipping sauce coat that any coconut shrimp would be proud to wear!
enjoy! {+ happy fourth of july weekend!}
- 3 cups canola oil
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled + deveined
- ½ cup flour {i used all-purpose}
- 2 eggs, beaten
- salt + pepper, to season
- ½ cup orange marmalade
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup dijon mustard
- ¼ cup chili paste
- in a heavy-bottomed pot or dutch oven, heat canola oil over medium high heat.
- gather 3 mixing bowls. place them in a line to set up an assembly line for your breading process.
- in the first bowl, place the flour
- in the second bowl, beat the two eggs
- in the third mixing bowl, combine panko breadcrumbs + shredded coconut.
- season your shrimp with salt + pepper
- working one at a time, dredge shrimp in the flour, dip into the eggs, then dredge in the coconut mixture, pressing to coat.
- working in batches, add shrimp to the hot oil. fry until evenly golden brown + crispy, about 2-3 minutes. transfer the shrimp to a paper towel-lined plate.
- serve immediately with orange-dijon dipping marmalade + enjoy!
- combine all of the ingredients.
to test if your oil is ready for the shrimps, toss a breadcrumb into the oil! if it sizzles then you are all good to go! {remove the breadcrumb if you can, otherwise it will burn + leave a bitter taste in your oil batch}
while these make for an awesome appetizer, incorporating them into a main meal is super easy! i like to treat the shrimps as the “chicken on top of a salad” + chop them bite-size, serving them over your favorite asian-inspired salad {this would be great!}. guess what else they would be awesome on-top of? my rainbow ramen salad! ..and i didn’t even do that on purpose! #winning!
join along as kelly posts, pins + peruses for inspiration in her ambitious kitchen!
I am loving that dipping marmalade.. definitely have to make it – I think it would go well with a lot of other savoury snacks too!
thank you thalia! let me know if you try it with something else, too! i’d love to hear about it! -k