Crunchy coconut shrimp / prawns with a spicy Thai MANGO dipping sauce! This sauce is so scrumptious I want to pour it over everything. And really – you could! On cooked meats, seafood, as a salad dressing…..let your imagination run wild!
This is a very special recipe to me because it was created during a visit to a mango farm called Groves Grown Tropical Fruits in Queensland, Australia. I’m fortunate to have travelled fairly extensively around the world, and yet this trip is possibly the one that has affected me most profoundly as an avid foodie, a cook, and a writer.
When you are welcomed by a farmer and his family onto their farm and into their home, walk the soil and see the fruits (literally) of their hard labour, it gives you a new perspective on things.
Last week, I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to meet Ian Groves and his family at Groves Grown Tropical Fruits farm. I expected a tour, some Q&A time, and to learn more about Australian mangos.
But within minutes of pulling up in my hire car, I knew this was not just the offical tour I was expecting when Ian said to me “Let me show you to your room.”
“My room?”, I asked, perplexed. “I have accommodation booked for me in town.”
“Oh no, you must stay here!”, he insisted. Which I gratefully accepted because I had no desire to be driving back and forth 50km on country roads.
And I knew, when I dragged my suitcase into my room and saw this, that this visit was not going to be just “a tour”.
This pretty much set the tone for the entire visit. Warm, welcoming, funny, thoughtful.
I’m sure the Groves family got sick of hearing me exclaim “I’m supposed to be “on the job”, but this feels like a holiday with friends!”.
I spent the day being toured around his extensive farm with his daughter Melanie and the obligatory farm dog, Milly, astounded by the scale, the time, care, labour, science and detail it takes to grow beautiful, plump, juicy mangoes that city folk like myself take for granted.
I was especially pleased to see that some of the mangoes were low hanging. Fantastic for shorties like myself!! 😉
I want to write so much and share so many photos but I know I’ll probably implode my site if I dribble on as much as I could. So I want to share with you one thing that I learned that I didn’t really appreciate before my visit – the mango varieties. Wow. Just wow.
Green mangoes. Red mangoes. Gold ones, giant ones. I was sent home with an extraordinary variety of mangoes, all hand marked by Ian so I wouldn’t forget. 😂 I’ve spent the past week making my way through the stash – eating and cooking half, and freezing the other half (note the absence of reference to giving them away!).
Each member of the Groves family has a favourite type of mango. I love ’em all, but having now tried Kensington Prides, Keitts, R2E2’s and Honey Gold mangoes, I must say I’m quite partial to Keitts! They are the red tone mangoes in the photo below with the tinge of green. Just as juicy, sweet and “meaty” as other varieties, but there is a very mild tang, almost lemony which really appeals to my palette.
I was thrilled that Sandi, Ian’s wife, let me take over the kitchen on the 2nd day so I could experiment with mango recipes!! So I created this recipe while I was there but I must admit, I couldn’t get the sauce quite right (performance anxiety!) so I worked on it once I got back to Sydney until I was happy.
I really wanted this sauce to have some depth, zing and freshness to offset the sweetness of the mango which I thought would be a great accompaniment to the sweet, crunchy shrimp / prawns.
These crunchy prawns / shrimp…so, I have to tell you, the first batch I made was just coated in coconut. But they just weren’t that crunchy! Panko is essential for this Coconut Shrimp. As is using desiccated, rather than flaked or shredded coconut.
Many thanks to to my official taste tester for this recipe, Melanie, Ian’s daughter, for helping me make the prawns just right!!?
Oh!! In all the excitement chattering about my trip, I almost forgot! I did a little video for this Coconut Shrimp / Prawns with Spicy Thai Mango Sauce recipe, along with a little peek at the beautiful Groves Grown Tropical Fruit Farm. And proof that these prawns are absolutely irresistible….you get to see DOZER taste testing!??
Regular readers will know that I don’t fry very often. It is reserved for very special occasions, for food “worth frying” for.
These Coconut Shrimp are worth it. Pinky swear, promise. – Nagi x
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Coconut Shrimp / Prawns with Spicy THAI Mango Sauce
Ingredients
Shrimp / Prawns
- 1 lb / 500 g whole prawns OR 12oz/350g peeled fresh prawns (Note 1)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Black pepper
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup desiccated coconut (Note 2)
- Oil , for frying
Mango Sauce
- 1 cup (packed) fresh mango. roughly diced
- 2 tbsp cilantro/coriander , leaves and stems, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp red onion or eschallots , finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fish sauce (or substitute with light or ordinary soy sauce)
- 1 tbsp sriracha (Note 3)
- 1 tsp red chilli , finely chopped (adjust to taste)
- 2 - 3 tbsp coconut milk (adjust for desired sauce consistency)
Instructions
- Mango Sauce: Place ingredients in a small food processor (or blender or use a blender stick). Whizz until smooth. Adjust salt and spice to taste. Use coconut milk to adjust the consistency.
- Peel and devein the shrimp / prawns. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Whisk egg in a small bowl. Mix panko and coconut in another bowl.
- Dip a prawn in the egg mixture then coat with panko. Repeat with remaining prawns.
- Heat oil in a skillet (Note 4) over medium high heat. Toss in a clotted lump of panko/egg to test for heat - if it sizzles right away and floats to the top, then the oil is hot enough.
- Working in batches, carefully place prawns in the hot oil. Cook for just 45 seconds (Note 5) until golden brown - start counting when you slide the first prawn in and remove the prawns from the oil in the order that you put them in.
- Remove onto a paper towel lined tray to drain.
- Serve warm with Spicy Mango Dipping Sauce!
Recipe Notes:
No nutrition for this….when food is this good, it doesn’t matter! (Also, because it’s fried, I don’t know how to calculate it accurately, sorry!)
This post is brought to you by Aussie Mangoes who arranged my visit to Groves Grown Tropical Fruits. Many thanks to Ian Groves and family for welcoming me into their home, showing me around their beautiful farm, sharing a wealth of information about growing and harvesting mangoes, letting me take over the kitchen to create this recipe, indulging me with incredible food, and officially converting me into a mango snob.❤️
absolutely beautiful Nagi! This farm reminded me of my granny’s mango orchard..it had a huge pool in one corner where my uncles caught live fish and shrimps that granny then cooked on an open fire. This brought back so many good memories. Also, what a gorgeous coconut shrimp recipe! I have always LOVED these in restaurants, may be try one day.And yup, we use raw mango and even ripe mangoes in curries.. I have a prawn in raw mango curry somewhere hiding on my blog.. worth a try! Xo..
Oooh!!! I’m going there right now to have a hunt!! I made the most amazing Thai Red Curry using ripe mangoes the other day, I would LOVE to try more recipes!!!
Yikes!! hiding ** in my blog! not on 😛
I got that! 😉
What an amazing trip! Now that’s the type of place I could spend all week exploring! I have a serious love for mangos so this dipping sauce is calling my name! And it’s perfectly paired with that perfectly crispy coconut shrimp! Oh my gawd does that look incredible! Btw, Dozer has a good eye 😉
He’s pretty quick when it comes to FOOD……
Delicious video and recipe!!! Major yummy!!! Thanks 🙂
Thank you Lyn!! Have a great weekend! N x
What a wonderful adventure! I love, love, love coconut shrimp and if my sweet sister-in-law were still with us I’d make it for her. Every time we went out to a restaurant that is the dish she’d order. I can’t wait to make it and the tip about the fine coconut. Have a great weekend!
?I’m sorry to hear about your sister in law. Let’s dedicate this recipe to her 🙂 I hope you have a great weekend too Marisa! N x
Hi Nagi! I absolutely love coconut shrimp! I first had them at a street food fair years ago and I was hooked from the first bite! The first time I made them they came out looking like sea urchins – if I recall they were battered and then coated in coconut – ditched that recipe! Can’t wait to make the mango dipping sauce, I know it will be much, much tastier than jarred! 🙂
BA HA HA! I know exactly what you mean, actually, that’s how my first attempt looked!! I used shredded coconut and a thick flour egg batter and sea urchins is the perfect description 🙂 Plus they weren’t very crunchy because coconut isn’t crunchy!!! I do hope you try this one of these days, I would dearly love to know what you think, especially the sauce. Invented from scratch, my first attempt it was just too “flat” tasting. Hope I got it right!! Have a great weekend Dorothy! Keep Gary out trouble… 😉 N x
What a fabulous experience, wish I was there. Love the note and ear plugs lol. Coconut shrimp has been on my bucket list and with this sauce, gonna have to try it.
I’ve made this four times in the last two weeks and STILL can’t get enough!! I know, isn’t that note the cutest?? Though I slept so well, I didn’t even HEAR the rooster!!
Oh boy, this looks amazing! It’s winter here but we can get frozen mango, though no doubt fresh will make the sauce so much better! Really loved your story about the Groves family and their farm (such a cute note with the earplugs!), and hope you’ll tell us more in future posts.
Thanks Barb!! The trip was just amazing, so amazing! Definitely more coming up soon!!! I got sent home with so many mangoes, I’ve been going nuts experimenting with them. Best so far is Thai Red Curry!!! I was blow away – I swapped out some of the coconut milk for mango puree, the flavour was incredible but even better?? The sauce has about half the calories! I was so amazed!!! Hope you had a FAB weekend Barb! N x
I’m so envious of you with all your fresh mangos! 😉 Can’t wait to see more of your recipes. And Thai Red Curry? Yummo!! (Though I love Thai anything.) You have a great weekend, too, and eat mangos for me!!
Luscious! I have mangoes in my backyard, so — guess what I’m having for supper!
I thoroughly enjoyed your trip and story about your visit with the Groves and their beautiful mangoes.
NO!!! You have your own mangoes??? I’m green with envy. Greeeeeeeennnnn!!!!! Hope you have a wonderful weekend Judy! N x
I start drooling when I enter the threshold of your blog. This shrimp and that sauce – oh my goodness! It looks amazing! The taste-testers/recipients of your food are super lucky!!
Thanks Monica!!! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
That mango sauce really makes those coconut shrimp special! Also love the video!
Awww, thanks Sabrina! N x
That sounds like such a great visit! Love the note and the fact they didn’t let you stay in town / let you take over the kitchen! That sauce looks divine – just my kind of sauce to have with poppadums. xxx
It was fantastic Mel!!!! Oooh, didn’t this of pappadum….thanks for the idea!
You always come up with yummy recipes Nagi! I can’t eat shrimps so I’ll try the recipe using chicken and will let you know how it came out.
PS: I clicked on the video but it opened your blog in different window and didn’t play the video. I looks forward to watching your video 🙂
Thank you for letting me know Muna! 🙂 Now fixed!! I hope you have a wonderful weekend – N x