Coconut Shrimp with Two Dipping Sauces from The Official Netflix Cookbook (The Sea Beast)
The next dish I made from the Netflix Cookbook was Coconut Shrimp with Two Dipping Sauces, inspired by The Sea Beast. This Dreamworks-like movie was released on Netflix after a limited theatrical run, becoming one of the service's most successful original animated films, until KPop Demon Hunters. A little girl meets a legendary pirate and stows away aboard his ship in search of a massive sea monster, the Red Bluster. Their ensuing quest teaches them that maybe they were wrong about the reasons behind why they hunt sea monsters.
I watched the movie one night after making this dish and enjoyed the quality of its animation, the development of each of the characters, and the wonderful vocal performances by such legendary actors as Karl Urban and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. These shrimp are coated in a coconut and panko batter. In the movie, Jacob and Maisie eat coconuts while they're castaways, and the Red Bluster helps them hunt schools of tiny fish while they're at sea. There are no shrimp, however, so this is another inspired recipe.
Fried popcorn shrimp is one of my vices, yet they're a dish I don't often get to have. Therefore, I was keen to make this as soon as I could to enjoy with some fresh summer corn. I always thaw my shrimp in a bowl of water the morning I prepare to make a dish with them. This is not the kind of meal you can cook and reheat later, and I was prepared to eat a lot of shrimp that night.
The shrimp are served with two dipping sauces, sweet chili and spicy mayo. Both are great because with the exception of a lime, all ingredients in them come from your pantry. I made the sauces first so they had a chance to marinate and the flavors could meld. Then I got to work battering and frying the shrimp. They came out perfectly cooked, crisp to a T, and oh so delicious. Of the sauces, the spicy mayo was my favorite, though I liked the sweet chili one as well.
If you want to make this recipe yourself, you can get it in The Official Netflix Cookbook: 70 Recipes from Your TV to Your Table.
