Belizean Shrimp in Caribbean Young Coconut Sauce

During this past rainy season, my friend Leo approached me with a few young coconuts. He told me he had extras. Leo knows I'm a chef so he said, “You can't use these young coconuts for a sauce; you just get a spoon and scoop the meat and eat them”. The word “cant” is always a challenge to me. I bet that I could make a fine sauce using the young coconuts.

 

For the following recipe, I did use those tender, sweet, young coconuts for my sauce. The flavor was good but the color is less white than a mature coconut. For my recipe, you can use young coconut meat or mature coconuts to make your own coconut milk. Bon Appetit!

 

 

Ingredients:

• 2 young or 1 mature coconut, meat only
• 1 lb. peeled shrimp
• 1 each sliced purple onion
• 1 each sliced plum tomato
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Pinch black or white pepper
• Juice half of 1 lime

 

The Method:

1. Scrape out coconut meat. If using young coconuts, puree the meat in a food processor.  If using a mature coconut, grate the meat and make milk.
2. Using a 14 inch fry pan, add the coconut oil and heat until hot.
3. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and turn down the heat to medium. Stir with a wood spoon until all ingredients are hot (do not brown the ingredients; just get them hot)
4. Add shrimp and stir until the shrimp is half cooked.
5. Add the coconut milk and bring to a boil for about 1 minute. Then turn off the heat. The shrimp will finish cooking in the boiled coconut milk.