Monkey In The Kitchen

Chili Lime Honey Ginger Shrimp:

• 1 lb prawns or shrimp
• 3-5 Tbs Garlic chili sauce depending on preference of spicyness
• 2 tsp lime juice (or the juice of 2 fresh limes)
• 1/2 cup limeade
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 Tbs ginger
• 1/2 Tbs white pepper
• 1 tsp dried mint leaves

Mix together all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer for 5-7 minutes, then remove from heat, let cool slightly, and marinate shrimp in the sauce for 20 minutes.  Skewer shrimp for grilling.  Return sauce to saucepan and reduce until thickened, use to baste shrimp while grilling.

Coconut Mango Rice:

• 1 cup calrose rice (uncooked)
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 mango
• Salt

In a rice cooker, combine rice, water, and salt.  Start the rice cooker and then peel and dice up the mango.  Dump in the mango pieces as soon as you are done chopping them up into the rice cooker.  As soon as you start seeing steam coming out of the rice cooker, add in the coconut milk, give it a quick stir to distribute the coconut milk and mango pieces and then close the lid and let it finish cooking undisturbed.

Ingredients:
1 pound cooked crab meat, remove any shells or cartilage
3/4 cup brown rice cracker crumbs
1/4 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons garlic aioli mayonnaise
2 tablespoons cilantro, minced
6 green onions, trimmed and minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper
2-3 teaspoons paprika to taste
3 tablespoons white rice flour flour
1 egg
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter

Directions:
1) In a large bowl, combine crab meat, crumbs, cream, mayonnaise, cilantro, green onions, salt, pepper, flour and paprika. Moisten hands with water and form crab mixture into 8 cakes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2) Heat olive oil or butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the crab cakes until crispy and golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes on each side.  I served my crab cakes with truffle oil mashed potatoes and a fresh garlic-basil creamed aioli.

• 2 Tbsp. Cajun Spice Mix
• ½ Cup Butter
• 7 Cloves Garlic, crushed and minced
• 1 Bay Leaf
• Juice from 1 large fresh lime
• ½ Cup beer (I used New Belgium’s Mothership Wit)
• ¼ Cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 lb Large Key West Shrimp (shell on)
• ½ Cup Heavy Cream

In a medium sauce pan melt butter and toss in garlic. Cook until garlic starts to caramelize. Add ¼ cup beer, Worcestershire, Bay Leaf, Lime Juice, and Cajun Spice Mix, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, boil uncovered for 20 minutes. After sauce has reduced some, add remaining beer and shrimp. Arrange shrimp into one layer in the pan, adding more beer to cover the shrimp. For each extra ¼ cup beer, add 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce and ½ Tbsp. Cajun spice mix. Cover and cook on medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes, or until shrimp are tender. Remove sauce from heat, remove shrimp from sauce. Add heavy cream to the sauce mixture, stirring until mixture becomes blended. Return to medium low heat for a few minutes and return shrimp to sauce.