Shrimp
The runt of the sea
Yet
Delicious as can be
Pair with grits
For that paleo
Use tigernut alternatively
A bit of avocado to garnish
Add beautiful color
Creamy to match
That wonderful consistency
A perfect blend
To warm the soul
And fill the palette with delight
Those little swimmers’ size
Now feels just right
By our guest poet and photo editor, @lukemakesart / @photoluke! Check out his stuff here or on insta 😉
Shrimp n' Grits! (paleo, AIP)
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This is a dish I've been craving for a long time without much luck...until this weekend when some nice wild shrimp sparked an idea for using up some of the copious cassava meal sitting in my pantry, in pretty much the best way possible. This dish hits all the right spots and then some...cheesy and rich and easy to boot. Give it a go, you really can't go wrong with fried shrimp. (Batter is optional, you can also saute these if you don't feel like deep frying.)
Author: Julie Hunter
Recipe type: Paleo, Autoimmune Protocol
Cuisine: Southern American
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
- 1 lb of peeled wild shrimp (thawed if frozen, patted dry/drained)
- For the shrimp batter:
- ½ c cassava flour
- ½ c tigernut flour
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 tb olive oil
- ½ c -1 c water
- 1 cup olive, avocado oil, ghee, coconut oil or mix of any for frying
- For the grits:
- 1.5 c cassava meal (*NB this is different/coarser than cassava flour)
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 4 tb nutritional yeast
- 3 tb ghee (AIP re-intro) or olive oil
- 4-6 c water
- 1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
- ½ tsp ground turmeric (optional, adds the yellow color but maybe a bit too yellow for my liking)
- scallions or avocado for garnish
Instructions
- Add grits ingredients to a medium-sized pot and whisk until smooth (start with 4 cups of water). Cook over low heat until grits have thickened (if they thicken too much, add more water). Season to taste and leave on low heat while preparing shrimp.
- Mix shrimp batter ingredients with whisk (start with ½ c water and then add more - depending on your brand of cassava flour you may need more than indicated here, the batter should have a liquid, pancake-batter-ish consistency).
- Heat up cooking oil in small pot over medium heat. Oil is ready when a drop of water spatters.
- Drench shrimp in batter and fry a few at a time (I did mine in batches of 4, better not to overcrowd). If you're shallow-frying, make sure to turn the shrimp with a fork once one side has browned.
- When shrimp coating has browned and shrimp are white (3-6 min), remove from oil and drain on a rack/paper towel.
- Serve shrimp on top of warm grits, garnish with scallions/avocado if you choose and be ready to eat right away cuz these suckers are too good to leave for one second cold and/or neglected. 😉
Alternative presentation, aka ‘shrimp n’ grits in a bowl’
Action shot. Ate this after photo-ing finished, double-fried the shrimp to reheat and came up with this messy deliciousness
This post has been shared on Phoenix Helix’s Paleo Roundtable.
Sounds amazing. I’ve craved shrimp and grits since starting AIP 18 months ago. It’s been a very slow process reintroducing foods. I can’t find cassava meal. Where do you buy it?
Thank you.
Hi Jennifer – I buy mine off Amazon (https://amzn.to/2RSV8PE, affiliate link), and you can also sometimes find cassava meal in Latin/ethnic groceries – it’s also good as a ‘cream of wheat’ porridge substitute, or breadcrumbs etc. Good luck in your AIP journey, it’s a marathon but worth it (and still possible to have lots of tasty treats along the way)!