We never leave a vacation without a new favorite food, and the Sweet Potato and Shrimp Croquettes (Bolinhos) at Cafe Brazil were by far a new and already much-missed favorite. Inquisitive and with the excuse of having nearly all the ingredients already in the kitchen, we decided to give our own inspired variation a try. A perfect cheat snack for a relaxing Friday night!
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons coconut oil/olive oil
1/2 pound shrimp shelled and deveined
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup minced shallots, minced,
1/2 cup minced scallions, sliced thinly
1 tablespoon minced serrano pepper
1 tablespoon minced ginger
2 teaspoons coconut sugar
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1 egg
1 package wonton wrappers
Directions:
- Peel and de-vein shrimp, rinse thoroughly. Heat half of the coconut oil/olive oil in a medium skillet. Saute shrimp for 2-3 minutes. It is okay if they are not completely done through.
- Heat remaining coconut oil/olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add ginger, serrano pepper, sugar and sweet potato and saute for 3-5 minutes, or until soft.
- Transfer shrimp and sweet potato mixture to food processor and pulse until thoroughly blended. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.
- Crack egg into small bowl and whisk until blended. Position a wonton wrapper with point facing toward you. Place 2 heaping teaspoons of filling in the center of wrapper. Fold bottom corner over filling; fold sides toward center over filling. Roll toward the remaining point. Moisten top corner with beaten egg; press to seal. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling. (You can also fork the edges to seal if desired.)
- Place on baking sheets coated with cooking spray; lightly coat wontons with additional cooking spray.
- Bake at 400° for 10-14 minutes or until golden brown, turning once halfway through the time. Serve with salsa or sweet chili sauce if desired. Makes about 4 dozen.
Crunchy, salty and sweet — irresistable! We served them with some salsa Blake canned and brought by around Christmas. It’s a favorite, but man is it SPICY!
Those things look delicious! I’m going to have to try them sometime for sure!
Yeah, I’d never tried baking them surprisingly. They taste just as crunchy (just be sure to spray or brush them down with oil/coconut butter/regular butter/whatever) and don’t make a nightmare mess of your kitchen.
I totally missed that you had these with my salsa! I’m glad that you like it!
The link to me made me laugh. Dark Lord of the Snow is right! Man I can honestly say that I don’t miss last winter one bit!
Haha, there are certain posts that are tied to our friends when we reference them in posts. For you, it’s Dark Lord of the Snow. It’s that or the post on truck nuts, I figured you’d prefer Darth.
Blake made these last night. They really did look good, but I just don’t put that much work into my food unless it’s a party or something — which usually gives me my chance to bake.
Anyways, these were delicious. I started thinking instead of shrimp they would also be good with like a pulled pork or something. His were not as pretty as yours, but I still thought they looked nice enough for a party, though he was less complimentary of his work 🙂
Anyways, great recipe!
They definitely would be good with a pulled pork, the flavor of more salt/fat would definitely be tasty with the sweetness of the sweet potatoes. Maybe we’ll try that variation next!