Coconut Shrimp and Spicy Pasta with Chorizo

 I love eating mushrooms. No pasta is complete for me without mushrooms. Not only do they provide texture, but they enhance and bring out the flavour of the other ingredients. Here, I have basically made an Aglio Olio with the addition of button mushrooms and sliced chorizo. I also used fresh bird's eye chilli instead of chilli flakes.

 

Spicy Chorizo Pasta with a side of Deep-fried Coconut Shrimp

To make our dinner more substantial, I prepared Z's ultimate favourite dish - deep-fried prawn fritters in crispy batter. Shell 500g of prawns, leaving the tail, and marinate with a little salt, pepper and cornflour. Then, just take 1/2 cup self-raising flour and season with salt, pepper and sugar, and combine with 1/2 tbsp oil and 110ml water. This should give you a nice thick batter. Coat prawns with batter and deep fry till a light golden colour. This shouldn't take too long. You don't want to overcook the prawns. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. Serve with your favourite sauce. I had mine with some sriracha mayo and hot chilli sauce.

I also made some coconut shrimp by dipping the prawns in the batter, and then rolling it in some dessicated coconut. The result is a mildly sweet coconut flavour with a crunchy coconut crust.

Tip: To get the prawns nice and straight, use a knife and lightly score the underside of the prawn 3-4 times and stretch the prawns to straighten them.

Crispy prawn fritters

Served with Sriracha mayonnaise