This is one of those cocktail snacks that is loaded with flavour, quick and easy to make and will impress any guests. You want to use coarse not fine shredded coconut to give the prawns lots of crusty finish. Prawns only take a few minutes to cook, you want to make sure the crust is crispy and the prawns inside cooked, but tender and plump. I had a bottle of lemon scented beer from my visit to the SAB World of Beer on Monday so it seemed like the perfect beer to use.
Beer & Coconut Crusted Prawns
Makes 12-18
Ingredients
– 125gms cake flour
– 60mls beer
– salt & pepper
– 1/2 tsp baking powder
– 1 jumbo egg
– 12-18 prawns, deveined and heads and shell removed, leave tail intact
– 2 cloves crushed garlic
– 1 crushed red chili
– 2 tbsp lemon juice
– 2 cups coarse shredded coconut
– oil for deep frying
Start by thoroughly cleaning the prawns, remove the vein, shell and head. Leave the tail intact as it is the perfect way to eat the prawns. Now in a bowl add the garlic, lemon juice, chilli and the prawns, allow to marinade for 20-minutes.
In another bowl combine the flour, egg, baking powder and the beer (start with 40mls beer). It should make a runny batter, if it is too runny add a little more flour, if it is too thick add a little more beer. In a pot heat enough oil to shallow fry the prawns in batches, begin to heat the oil. Once the oil is hot, a drop of batter will sizzle, dust the prawns in some seasoned flour, then quickly dip the prawns into the batter, allow most of it to drain off, then add the prawns to the coconut. Turn the prawns to coat thoroughly in the coconut then fry them till they are crisp and golden. Serve immediately with a chilli and lemon mayo and some extra lemon wedges.