Grilled Coconut Chili Shrimp with Pineapple – Football Foodie Snack

To say I’m behind on football is an understatement.

Even with all the apps, blogs, newspapers, newsletters, carrier pigeons and smoke signals giving me NFL updates while we were abroad, nothing compares to watching Real. Live. Games. I have no idea how the Eagles are 1-3 while the Bills are 3-1. The injury reports read like a mystery novel. And I may be mistaken, but I’m pretty sure I’ve been so out of it my brain is telling me Max Starks is back with the Steelers. That can’t possibly be true, brain!

Which is a nice way of saying I’m not moving from my sofa all weekend long and playing catch-up for time missed, even if my tailbone is still sore from sitting on an airplane for 12 hours. I don’t care how bad the 49er’s-Vikings game might be this weekend, I’m watching it.

(And having lots of snacks.)

Grilled Coconut Chili Shrimp with Pineapple

While it looks like a lot of work, this is one of the easiest snacks you can make ahead of time.

Originally adapted from Sunset magazine, I prefer skipping the skewers unless grilling them directly over an open flame, adding the chili for extra heat, using unsweetened coconut to avoid it tasting candy-like and filling it out with pineapple so it’s like having a luau at your tailgate.

You will need…

1 1/2 to 2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined with the tails left on
3 to 4 cups chopped pineapple, preferably fresh (one medium pineapple should suffice)
2 14 ounce cans light coconut milk
2 tablespoons fresh ginger
3-4 cloves of garlic (about two tablespoons worth minced)
3-4 good sized limes, for both lime juice and lime zest
1/2 cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened depending on taste and whatever else you use coconut in
1 teaspoon crushed red chili pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

My recommendation is to use unsweetened coconut, but please buy whatever coconut you think you’re going to use up after making this snack. Sweetened coconut is great on cake, cookies or even sundaes.

In a large bowl, mix together one 14 ounce can of light coconut milk, the juice and zest of one lime, 2 gloves of minced garlic and one tablespoon or so of fresh minced ginger.

I just use the microplane for everything; ginger, lime, garlic. Easier, one less thing to clean up later.

Marinate the shrimp in the coconut-lime mix for at least an hour in the refrigerator. Can be left to marinate as long as overnight to 24 hours before grilling.

In another glass bowl, make the same coconut, whole lime, ginger and garlic marinade. Use half of the marinade on the chopped pineapple and put the other half into a pan.

Over medium-low heat, reduce the marinade down by more than half until thickened and set aside to cool.

Just before you grill the pineapple and the shrimp, lightly toast the shredded coconut and crushed red chili pepper in a dry pan over medium heat and set aside. Mix in a small amount of salt if desired.

Over a medium grill or grill pan, grill the pineapple on two sides until cooked through and has slight caramelized grill marks. Remove from heat and put on a serving platter.

Drain the shrimp from the marinade and grill until no longer pink and starting to curl, just about 2-3 minutes on each side.

Toss the cooked shrimp in the coconut-chili mix to coat.

Serve with coconut milk-lime sauce.