Coconut-Crusted Avocado Fries with a spicy thai dipping sauce

Some very important things I learned from my couch this weekend:

1. Watching Michael Shannon read the insane sorority girl letter can turn that frown upside down. If you can handle the language, it's pretty entertaining & you'll learn a new phrase or two. 

2. Watching Kitchen Nightmares is a good way to start that savings account. If you're wanting to cook at home to save some money, watch this show. While most of the episodes have happy endings with delicious looking food, the first 20 minutes will turn your stomach. Rotten food, dirty kitchens, and bugs. I had never seen this show up until this weekend but Billy & I were hooked after watching what I'm assuming is the best episode, Amy's Baking Company. I won't go into detail about how crazy the owner of this restaurant is but I would love to see what kind of review the insane sorority girl would write.

Note to self: Find out if insane sorority girl is a yelper. 

3. I watch too much tv.

4. I'm lazy. And....

5. Avocado fries go from a ten to an eleven when you add coconut to the mix.

I'm a sucker for coconut anything. I'm surprised it took me this long to think of coating avocado with it. Now that I know better, I think this is how I'll be enjoying my avocado fries from here on out.

Notes: Coconut flour can be replaced with AP or any kind of GF flour. Two eggs can be replaced with flour and water to make a vegan dipping batter (check out my Spicy Panko-Crusted Tofu Tacos for an example).

Coconut-Crusted Avocado Fries

recipe adapted from Sunset

Canola oil

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs, beaten

juice from 1 lime

3/4 panko

3/4 cup sweet coconut shreds

2 avocados, sliced

fresh cilantro (optional)

Heat 1" oil in a medium saucepan until it registers 375 on a deep-fry thermometer or candy thermometer. Lay three shallow bowls on your kitchen counter to make an assembly line. Mix coconut flour & salt, place in the first bowl. Beaten eggs in the second. Mix panko with the coconut shreds and place in the third bowl. Squeeze lime juice on the avocado slices. Dip the slices in the flour to get a light coat. Shake off any excess and dip in the egg. Finally dip in the panko /coconut mix and get a nice coat all around. Fry a quarter of the slices at a time, on each side until golden, 30-60 seconds. Top with fresh cilantro.

Spicy Thai Dipping Sauce

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup water

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 green onion, green and white part sliced

1 tsp red pepper

2 tsp sriracha

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp water

Mix sugar, vinegar, and water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a light boil. When the sugar dissolves, mix in garlic, red pepper, sriracha, salt, and white part of the green onion. Combine cornstarch and water in a small bowl, mix until smooth. Bring the sauce to a simmer and add remaining green onion and cornstarch, stirring constantly until sauce thickens. Remove from heat. Best served at room temperature.