Delicious Copycat Bubba Gump Shrimp

Haven’t seen Forest Gump in years but I remembered my husband and I enjoyed the film. I vaguely remember he owned a shrimp boat.

My memory was jogged when I saw this recipe on CD Kitchen and decided I had to make this. Mainly I love shrimp and coconut. Together, they’re outstanding. The shrimp are pretty sweet so a nice cocktail sauce or horseradish sauce is the perfect accompaniment for these shrimp. With most fried seafood, I prefer tartar sauce, but not with this. Cocktail sauce is it.

Deep Frying

These shrimp are deep fried. If you have an oil deep frying machine, that’s good but you are going to have to ditch the oil after making these. The coconut is the thing that makes the oil useless after frying. So I recommend doing these with about 1-inch/2.5-cm of oil in a regular skillet. Again, the oil should be discarded after cooking but it’s less wasteful than the gallon-or-so oil that fills a deep fryer.

Now the next question: no, you cannot air fry these. Anything batter dipped is an air frying disaster. Don’t even try it.

Batter

Where I generally make a batter with plain flour, this one uses baking mix–like Jiffy or Bisquik. The recipe stated “pancake mix” but then said, “Like Bisquik.” To me, pancake mix is the so-called complete stuff where you just add water. I don’t call Bisquik that, but maybe some do. Anyway, it’s what is used and I was surprised at the excellent results.

The liquid used is beer, just like you use for fish and chips (a famous food of my people) batter. The recipe didn’t state flat beer as most batters do. I used beer right out of the bottle and it worked just fine. The beer acts like yeast so let it stand about 15 minutes to rest.

The Recipe

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Copycat Bubba Gump Shrimp

Over-the-top delicious

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time2 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer, Main, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: batter dipped coconut shrimp, coconut shrimp, forest gump shrimp

Servings: 4

Calories: 284kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 1 lb large shrimp 26-30 per pound
• 3/4 cup baking mix i.e. Bisquik
• 3/4 cup beer
• vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup flaked coconut

Instructions

• Peel shrimp, leaving tails intact. Devein, if needed. Rinse well and drain thoroughly.
• Pour oil to depth of 1-inch/2.5-cm into a Dutch oven or deep fryer; heat to 350F/180C.
• Combine baking mix and beer in a small bowl; stir until smooth. Mixture should resemble pancake batter.
• Dredge shrimp in flour; shake off excess. Dip shrimp into batter; dredge in coconut. Fry, a few at a time, 45 seconds on each side or until golden. Drain on paper towels.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 284kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 297mg | Potassium: 172mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 49mg | Iron: 2mg

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Party Rice Balls

These are as easy as 1-2-3 and can be made ahead of party time.  In fact, they can even be reheated.

Addictive!

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Party Rice Balls

In a word, purely addictive.  The perfect snack for watching football or any time.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Total Time40 minutes mins

Course: Appetizers

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: rice balls

Servings: 24 rice balls

Calories: 69kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked white rice
• 3 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese
• 1 tbsp fresh minced parsley or 1/2 tbs dehydrated parsley
• 1 cup plain breadcrumbs
• oil for frying

Instructions

• Bring water and 1 tsp. of salt to boil and stir in rice. Reduce heat, cover and cook rice until all water is absorbed. Fluff rice and set aside until it is warm to the touch. You must work with WARM rice, not cold.
• Mix the eggs, cheese and parsley in a small bowl. Add to the warm rice and stir well until all rice is coated with the egg mixture.
• In a separate bowl, add the cup of breadcrumbs. Keeping your hands wet, roll rice mixture into balls the size of a golf ball. Coat with breadcrumbs. Repeat until all the rice mixture is used.
• Heat about 1-inch of oil in a heavy skillet, preferably cast iron. Oil should be about 375 degrees OR when a cube of bread is dropped in the oil, it will brown in 1 minute.
• Add rice balls to hot oil and brown on all sides. This may have to be done in stages--do NOT crowd the pan! Fry maybe 6-8 balls at a time so they have plenty of room to move around in the pan. When brown, remove to a plate covered with a paper towel to drain oil. These may be kept warm in a 200 degree oven until all the rice balls are cooked.
• Makes about 24 rice balls. Serve with marinara sauce and extra cheese.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 69kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 17mg | Sodium: 201mg | Potassium: 28mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 70IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 60mg | Iron: 1mg

Party Rice Balls

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