Cut the oil, trim the calories

By KATHY MANWEILER

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

Appetizers can be a tasty start to a meal, but if you order a fried item, you might be consuming an entire day’s worth of calories before your entree even arrives.

A batter-dipped fried onion with sauce has about 2,100 calories and a plate of cheese fries with ranch dressing contains around 3,000 calories, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Shrimp may sound like a far healthier option, but Red Lobster’s Parrot Bay Jumbo Coconut Shrimp are battered, breaded, fried and served with a rich dipping sauce. The restaurant doesn’t disclose the calorie count of this item, but it’s nowhere to be found on Red Lobster’s LightHouse Selections list, which have less than 500 calories and no more than 10 fat grams.

In the cookbook “Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2,” chef Todd Wilbur claims he’s cracked the code on the recipe so fans can make this Red Lobster specialty at home. The dish looked delicious, but I could see that it was full of fat and empty calories, and I wanted to slim it down.

The key to lightening up this appetizer was finding a way to make the shrimp taste fried without submerging it in oil.

After a few experiments, I found that preheating a baking rack and lightly coating it and the shrimp with cooking spray did the trick.

In the breading, I reduce the amount of flour and breadcrumbs. I also cut the amount of sugar in the batter, and I don’t use the 2 tablespoons of coconut rum because coconut is already in the shrimp’s breading. For the dipping sauce, I use light sour cream and less sugar to save more calories and fat grams.

You can have four of my coconut shrimp with 2 tablespoons of pina colada dipping sauce for 293 calories and 5.8 fat grams.

KATHY’S COCONUT SHRIMP WITH PIñA COLADA SAUCE
For shrimp:

12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined

3⁄4 cup all-purpose flour, divided use

1 tablespoon sugar

1⁄4 teaspoon salt

1⁄2 cup fat-free milk

1⁄2 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

1⁄4 cup shredded coconut

Cooking spray

For dipping sauce:

1⁄4 cup light sour cream

2 tablespoons liquid piña colada mix

2 tablespoons canned crushed pineapple (packed in water, not syrup)

1⁄2 tablespoon sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Set a rack on a foil-lined baking sheet. Put the empty baking sheet and rack in the 400-degree oven for about 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the dipping sauce ingredients, cover and put it in the refrigerator to chill while you make the shrimp.

Put half of the flour in a medium bowl.

In another medium bowl, mix together the remaining flour, salt and 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Stir the milk into this flour mixture and let this batter stand for 5 minutes.

While the batter rests, combine panko bread crumbs and coconut into a third medium bowl.

Remove the heated baking sheet and rack from the oven.

To batter the shrimp, dip each one in the plain flour, then the wet batter. Next, coat each shrimp with the panko-coconut mixture. Coat the preheated rack with cooking spray. Carefully place each shrimp on the hot rack and lightly coat the shrimp with cooking spray.

Put the shrimp in the 400-degree oven and bake for about 9 to 12 minutes, or until the shrimp is fully cooked and the breading is crispy.

Serve shrimp with piña colada dipping sauce on the side.

Serves 3.

Per serving (4 shrimp with 2 tablespoons sauce): 293 calories, 49 carb grams, 5.8 fat grams, 310mg sodium, 1.5 fiber grams, 60 mg cholesterol, 15 protein grams.

Adapted from a “Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2” recipe by Todd Wilbur.