Why it works: Shrimp and coconut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 338 recipes mention both. Both carry phenylethanol, which smells rose, floral. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare
Peel shrimp, leaving tail shell; devein and butterfly by cutting almost all the way through along the vein side.
Combine sherry and curry powder; marinate shrimp in sherry mixture in refrigerator 30 minutes.
Combine 1/2 cup flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and milk in small bowl; stir until batter becomes thin and smooth.
Combine coconut and bread crumbs in rectangular dish.
Coat and fry
Coat shrimp in remaining 3/4 cup flour, then batter, then coconut mixture.
Let stand 20 minutes before cooking.
Heat 1 inch oil to 350 degrees in heavy pan with 3-inch side rim.
Fry shrimp until golden; do not crowd in pan.
Drain on paper towels.
Serve
Serve shrimp with rice and with mango chutney, if desired.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Shrimp + coconuttop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together338 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylethanol (rose, floral).
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Coconut + mangotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together221 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + breadtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together11,363 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Milk + coconuttop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,642 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Coconut + basmati ricetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together135 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Shrimp
- Main protein; the coating surrounds it and it cooks quickly in hot oil.
- All-purpose flour
- Dusts the shrimp so the batter adheres and sets into a crisp coating.
- Cornstarch
- Lightens the batter, helping it fry up crisp rather than heavy.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, making it puff slightly and stay light.
- Dry bread crumbs
- Form a crunchy, golden outer layer when fried.
- Flaked coconut
- Adds toasty browning and a sweet, nutty crunch to the crust.
The step that matters
Fry in hot oil without crowding. Oil held near 350°F seals the coating quickly and browns it. Crowding drops the oil temperature, so the shrimp steam and turn greasy and pale instead of crisp.
Flavor stand-ins for the mango
The recipe marks mango as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shrimp, sherry, flour, milk, coconut, bread, basmati rice):
- Vanillaabout as good a flavor fit
- Mangothe original
- Grapeabout as good a flavor fit
- Pineappleabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, sherry, flour, milk, coconut, bread, basmati rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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