Honey Walnut Shrimp

Honey Walnut Shrimp

This is one of my very favorite and most delicious recipes. In order to get this meal just right I had to combine 3 different recipes and then I had to further adjust it according to my dietary needs. Another thing I will point out before I begin is that this recipe contains mayonnaise, I do not eat store bought mayonnaise because it has a bunch of ingredients in it that I do not eat, so I make my own from scratch (I make up a batch of it in small quantities I use what I need for this recipe and then I store the rest in the refrigerator to use another time for other things) I have included the mayonnaise recipe in this recipe, in case you are like me and prefer not to eat the store bought stuff.

Ingredients for the candied walnuts:

1/2 Cup walnuts
1/2 Tablespoon butter melted
1 1/2 Tablespoon light honey (I prefer raw)
Pinch of salt

Ingredients for the fried shrimp:

1lb raw peeled, deveined shrimp also be sure to pull the tails off
1/4 Cup arrowroot powder
3 Tablespoons of coconut oil

Ingredients for the sauce:

*1/4 Cup of mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons light honey ( I prefer raw)
1 Tablespoon of organic creamed coconut (I buy it at whole foods it is a little thicker than canned coconut milk) or if you are unable to get the organic creamed coconut, canned coconut milk works great too (just scoop a Tablespoon cream off the top of the can).

*Ingredients needed for mayonnaise:
Makes 2/3 of a cup

1 egg (I prefer to use organic eggs when I make mayonnaise)
1 Tablespoon Lemon juice
1/2 Teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 Cup light olive oil or grape seed oil or some other very light tasting oil

First we need to turn our walnuts into candied walnuts. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Mix the walnuts, melted butter, honey and a pinch of salt together until well coated. Place nuts on a stick free baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes or until the nuts start to brown. When done cooking set them aside.

Next we will make the mayonnaise. Add the egg, lemon juice and mustard to your blender. Remove the small cap in the middle of the lid and turn on blender. Keep the blender running the entire time. Wait a few seconds then very slowly start dripping the oil into the opening. The mixture will begin to blend together, keep dripping consistently until the mixture thickens and looks like mayonnaise. Now you can start to add the oil a little bit faster, being careful not to break the emulsion. The whole process takes about 5 minutes. Take out a 1/4 of a cup of the mayonnaise and set aside for the Honey Walnut Shrimp recipe,  refrigerate the rest immediately.

Then we are going to get the shrimp ready to be cooked, take the 1/4 of a cup of arrowroot powder and put it into a shallow dish. Take each shrimp and lightly coat each one with the arrowroot powder. Take your coconut oil and heat on medium high, once heated fry shrimp in batches. Do not over crowd in the pan,cook a few minutes on each side until they are cooked through. Let shrimp drain on a paper towel covered plate, when shrimp are all cooked set them aside.

In a mixing bowl, mix the mayonnaise; honey; organic creamed coconut or coconut milk and candied walnuts. Then take your fried shrimp and mix into the sauce right after draining while they are still hot. Return all items to the pan that the shrimp were fried in and heat thoroughly. Serve immediately with cooked rice, I prefer Basmati brown rice but everyone in my family prefers Basmati white.

Enjoy!