Coconut Shrimp & Gouda “Grits”

Some of you might have noticed I make videos on youtube and have done waaay before this blog even entered my world. The crazy thing is that most of the people that know me in real life…well, they don’t watch my videos or come to this blog for that matter.

So I was so surprised and delighted when my life-long best friend texted me one night, out of the blue, and said, “Hey me and the wife are binge watching your videos on the big screen. She wants to cook with you on a video! Join us at the beach house.” Okay, rock on! That chick can cook and she’s open to anything pertaining to food. So we get to brainstorming. What are we going to cook? We knew right off, it’s Florida. It’s the beach. It HAS to be seafood.

We conference called for a game plan and she says she’s thinking shrimp and grits. I tell her that’s exactly what I was thinking but with a twist – coconut shrimp and cauliflower gouda “grits”  in my brand spanking new air fryer. The deal was done. I decided on coconut milk and chicken broth in the grits along with non-smoked gouda. For the shrimp, dipped in a mixture of egg, coconut milk, hot sauce with panko and toasted coconut.

Now, to be truthful, I didn’t/don’t have much experience with the air fryer. I had reheated pizza in it. Turned out great. I made some spicy garlic green beans. Turned out great. The wife cooked some tofu Chick-Fil-A “chicken” nuggets. And yes, that did turn out great (ack!). I was unsure of how all this would turn out…

But here I am telling you about it! It was sooooo delicious! Y’all, I’m from the South. I freakin love grits. And this, well it’s cauliflower, so by it’s very nature it’s not grits. You know what I mean? It’s like cauliflower rice – It’s not rice! So when I tell you it was delicious I swear, I mean it. It easily could stand right up next to my old friend grits. Does it taste like grits? Nope. Not even a little, but there’s something about it that gives you the feeling it could be if you wished upon a star. You get me?

And the shrimp turned out awesome too! Just like fried coconut shrimp that you would deep fry.

You don’t have to air fry. Bake them, deep fry them, put them in your toaster oven. It doesn’t matter, just do it. And when you do, use wild caught Gulf shrimp. 🙂

Keep an eye out for the video…I’m still editing. We had so much fun/beach/booze I need some time to piece it into something you’ll want to see!   Shires does it up right and she has great leadership qualities!  Keep a look out, she may create a world of her own on the blogosphere.

COCONUT SHRIMP & GOUDA “GRITS”

INGREDIENTS

1 head of cauliflower grated, pulsed, or spiralized (that’s what I did, I have one of these)
4 ounces chicken broth
4 ounces coconut milk
4 ounces cream cheese
4 ounces shredded gouda, not aged
1 teaspoon Habanero Mango Seasoning by Bolner’s, or any other seasoning you want
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon butter
shrimp, peeled, deheaded with tails on, butterflied optional
panko crumbs
toasted coconut
2 eggs
hot sauce
coconut milk left over from grits
oil

DIRECTIONS

For the “grits”: Melt the butter in a skillet. When it’s melted, add broth, coconut milk, onion powder, pepper, and a tad of salt. You can always add more salt in the end. Your cheese and broth could be saltier than you realize.

When that comes to a boil, add the cream cheese and stir until melted.

Add grated/crumbled/spiralized cauliflower. Stir well. Cook for four minutes on medium heat. Add shredded gouda. Stir and cook until melted. Taste for salt and pepper. If it’s too crunchy for you, keep on going with it. But I’ve had good luck with this time schedule.

For the shrimp: In a bowl beat 2 eggs and add 4 ounces coconut milk along with a splash of hot sauce. Mix well. In another bowl mix a 50/50 ratio of panko and toasted coconut, salt, and pepper. Dip in egg mixture then in panko mixture. Put them in/on your vessel, however you’re cooking it.

If you want to pan fry, add some oil to a skillet and heat. When glistening add your shrimp and cook for 3 minutes each side, don’t crowd, until golden. If deep frying, you’re on your own because my wife doesn’t let me fry in the house. If you want to bake, heat oven to 375° with some oil lightly coating the bottom. Bake for 4 minutes, flip, bake until golden. I have the best luck in a skillet when not using an air fryer.

I won’t go into the air fryer times except to say, if you have the one I have, the De Longhi, use 1 teaspoon of oil and fry for 7 minutes on 4. Other air fryers will have different settings, so I can’t speak for those.

That’s it, guys!  I hope you enjoy as much as we did!  And for all that is good and holy, use wild caught Gulf shrimp! Let’s support our hard working men and women on the Gulf and let’s face it….the shrimp is so much sweeter than those farm raised shrimp you get from Taiwan.

**NOTE:  For those that don’t know how to toast coconut, heat a dry skillet up to med/high heat.  Add shredded sweetened coconut and stir constantly until it’s the brownness you want.  It can turn from good to burnt in the blink of an eye so be careful.  I usually toast a whole bag and keep it either in the freezer or in a mason jar.  It keeps forever and you’ll find yourself using it in so many things.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission.

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