walnut shrimp (sorta)

let me start off by saying any vegan or vegetarian in the philadelphia area 
gets an instant orgasm at the mere mention of the walnut shrimp from harmony.

even my meat-eating boyfriend goes ape-shit batty whenever someone brings it up.

yeh, its that good.

the problem?
we can’t always get to philly,
and sometimes we are just flat broke. 

because of this we developed our own version of this drool-worthy dish
(it’s similar…with a few changes of course) 

VEGGIE HONEY AGAVE WALNUT PECAN SHRIMP
(maria-style, with no exact measurements)

ingredients

• package of mock shrimp
  (i get mine at various asian markets or at vegieworld.com…
  READ THE LABELS if you are vegan… sometimes it has eggs)
• flour batter mixture of your choice
  and a separate bowl of flour for dredging, too
  (i make a pasty batter out of flour, salt, smoked paprika, 
  garlic powder and club soda or coca cola.)
• oil for frying
• vegenaise , 
  

  roughly 3-6 tablespoons 
  (grapeseed kind)
• agave nectar, 
  

  3-6 tablespoons 
  (or honey, if you use honey)
• plain soy milk or almond milk
  (not vanilla… and rice milk tastes like balls in this recipe) 
• a lemon
• pecan halves
  (of course you can use walnuts, but i like pecans!) 
• sugar of your choice
• steamed broccoli
  (to put your shrimp and sauce on) 

directions

• candy the pecans boil the nuts for a minute or so, drain all but enough water to cover them, and add your sugar to make a simple syrup
• make your sauce combine the vegenaise, and agave in a large bowl. start out with about three tablespoons of each. 
• add a dollop of soy moo and a squeeze of lemon
  the rest is up to you!
  want it creamier? add more vegenaise.
  sweeter? add more agave.
  tangier? add a touch more lemon
• make your wet batter  use your favorite batter, but make it a little bit on the thicker side.
  adding a carbonated drink to your dry batter ingredients will give an awesome, crispy end result! 
• set out a separate bowl or plate of flour  season it however you like 
•  batter up
  dip the shrimp in the DRY flour, then into the WET batter, then back into the DRY flour. 
• fry, fry, fry  set fried shrimps on a paper towel or paper bag to drain 
• coat those shrimpies
  toss your fried shrimp in your vegenaise sauce
• plate it up
   scoop your saucy shrimp on top of steamed broccoli.
  sprinkle the candied pecans on top.
  
  
• EAT EAT EAT...  AND EAT!