I’m using coconut two ways in this dish, coconut flour to bread the pheasant chunks, and coconut milk to cook the rice. You could make the same dish with chicken or turkey or pork cut in strips, but as I have said before, I have a freezer full of pheasant and grouse to cook. This is the last week of grouse season, so I will be getting a chance to catch up before next season.
I’m going to bread the pheasant as I would do any breading—flour, egg wash, then the final breading, which is often bread crumbs or panko, but today will be a second coating of coconut flour. After breading, I’m frying them in peanut oil. Coconut flour makes a softer breading than regular wheat flour, but I’m calling it crispy, anyway. You could make the same recipe using all-purpose white flour.
This recipe turned out very well and will become a regular on the menu. I’m still searching for the perfect pheasant (or grouse) recipe, though, and am thinking a meatball is probably next in the works.
Crispy Orange-Ginger Coconut Pheasant with Coconut Rice
Preheat oven to 375°
Baked Coconut Rice
1 cup brown Jasmine rice
1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup coconut milk, shaken before opening can (save the rest for the breading liquid)
1 teaspoon olive oil or butter
salt & pepper
- Place the rice in a 2 quart baking dish.
- Combine the broth, coconut milk, and oil or butter. Bring to a boil.
- Pour the liquid over the rice and cover the dish with foil. Bake for 1 hour.
Crispy Orange-Ginger Coconut Pheasant
6 boneless, skinless pheasant breasts, cut in large chunks (use fewer if using large chicken breasts)
3-4 cups coconut flour
2-3 eggs
1/2-1 cup coconut milk (from the same can used for the rice)
Peanut or vegetable oil to make a depth of at least one inch in a large frying pan with straight sides
Orange-Ginger Sauce
1 1/4 cups orange juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons ginger, grated
3 large garlic cloves, grated
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1/4 cup water for thickening
toasted sesame seeds and chopped green onions for garnish
Prepare the sauce and set aside, keeping warm:
- Heat olive oil in small saucepan and lightly sauté the garlic and ginger until fragrant, but not browned.
- Add the rest of the ingredients, except the thickener and sesame seeds. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Stir in cornstarch/water mixture and continue cooking until translucent and thickened.
Prepare pheasant:
- Heat oil in pan over high heat to a temperature of 350°
- Set up breading ingredients in 3 containers, one for the first dredging, one with the egg wash, and one for the final coating of flour.
- Dredge pheasant chunks in flour. For the first coating, I shake them in a sealed plastic bag.
- A few at a time, coat floured chunks in egg wash made from whisked eggs and coconut milk.
- Remove pieces from the egg wash with a fork, placing them in a bowl of the rest of the coconut flour, tossing to coat. This coating makes little clumps of egg and flour that make an interesting texture on the meat, similar to a buttermilk breading.
- Continue until all pieces are breaded.
- Fry chunks in hot oil, placing them in your pan so that they do not touch. I got about 8-9 pieces in my pan at a time. Turn them when they are browned to brown the other side, about 5 minutes total. Remove to paper towel lined plate while you cook the rest.
Mix fried pheasant chunks with orange-ginger sauce and garnish with sesame seeds and chopped green onions. Serve with rice.
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