Macadamia Crusted Shrimp
Jumbo shrimp coated in crushed macadamia nuts and pan-fried until golden — the signature meeting of Hawaii's two great culinary exports, born from the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement that transformed fine dining on the islands.
- 1.5 lbsjumbo shrimp(16-20 count, peeled and deveined)
- 1 cupmacadamia nuts(finely chopped)
- 0.5 cuppanko breadcrumbs
- 0.5 cupsweetened shredded coconut
- 0.5 cupall-purpose flour
- 2 largeeggs(beaten)
- 0.5 tspsalt
- 0.25 tspcayenne pepper
- 4 tbspbutter
- 2 tbspvegetable oil
- 0.5 cuporange marmalade(for dipping)
- 1 tbspDijon mustard(for dipping sauce)
- 1 tsphorseradish(for dipping sauce)
Shrimp can be breaded up to 4 hours ahead; refrigerate on rack. Cook just before serving.
- 1Combine macadamia nuts, panko, and coconut in shallow dish
- 2Place flour in another dish and beaten eggs in a third
- 3Season shrimp with salt and cayenne
- 4Dredge shrimp in flour, then egg, then press into macadamia mixture
- 5Heat butter and oil in large skillet over medium heat
- 6Cook shrimp 2-3 minutes per side until golden and cooked through
- 7Drain on wire rack
- 8Mix marmalade, mustard, and horseradish for dipping sauce
- 9Serve shrimp hot with dipping sauce
Chop macadamia nuts finely and evenly for consistent coating. The butter adds flavor but burns easily - the oil helps prevent this. Don't crowd the pan or nuts won't crisp properly. The orange-mustard sauce adds bright contrast to the rich shrimp.
Both components of this dish have documented histories rooted in the Pacific. The macadamia nut is native to the subtropical rainforests of northeastern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland in Australia, where Aboriginal peoples — including the Budjilla, who called the tree kindal-kindal — harvested and traded the nuts for thousands of years before European contact. The genus was named Macadamia in 1857 by the German-Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in honour of his friend Dr. John Macadam, a chemist and secretary of the Philosophical Institute of Australia, who died without ever tasting the nut that bears his name. In 1882, William H. Purvis brought seeds from Queensland to Hawaii, planting them as windbreaks for the sugar cane fields he managed. Hawaii's macadamia industry grew from those original plantings into the world's dominant commercial producer through the 20th century. The cooking technique — using crushed macadamias as a golden crust for seafood — became one of the defining preparations of the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement. On August 27, 1991, twelve Hawaii-based chefs gathered at the Maui Prince Hotel in Wailea and announced the formation of what they called Hawai'i Regional Cuisine (HRC): Sam Choy, Roger Dikon, Mark Ellman, Amy Ferguson Ota, Beverly Gannon, Jean-Marie Josselin, George Mavrothalassitis, Peter Merriman, Philippe Padovani, Gary Strehl, Alan Wong, and Roy Yamaguchi. Their shared philosophy was to showcase Hawaii's abundant local ingredients — fresh Pacific seafood, tropical fruits, island-grown nuts — using French culinary technique and the Asian flavour traditions that had taken root in the islands over generations of immigration. Macadamia-crusted seafood became one of the most recognisable expressions of that vision: a dish that could only have come from Hawaii.