dishes of comfort :updated

My friend, Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice invited all bloggers to post about their "dishes of comfort". Check out her blog on November 15th to see everyone else's dishes.

I decided to post about a dish that my mom often made for a special occasion when I was growing up, and now sometimes makes when I go home to Hawaii....Shrimp Pineapple.

I'm not too sure what it is about this dish that is so comforting to me. Maybe the fried shrimp? Maybe the thick, sweet and sour sauce? The combination of these two? Or maybe just the fact that my mom made it?

I didn't have my mom's recipe, but found something in her church's cookbook, "Wisteria Delights", and think that maybe it is her recipe.

Here's the recipe:
1 pound shrimp
1 (20 ounce) can pineapple in heavy syrup
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
oil

Sauce: 3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup pineapple syrup
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 1/2 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ketchup
2-3 drops Tabasco sauce

Shell and clean shrimp.
Stir beaten eggs lightly into flour and salt and mix well. Add shrimp to thick batter.
Fry shrimp until light brown.
Place shrimp on paper towel.
Combine ingredients for sauce and cook until done.
You may either cook the pineapple chunks in the sauce or garnish shrimp with pineapple and pour over sauce.
Variation: Cook the pineapple in the sauce and add the fried shrimp to the cooked sauce and heat until warm.

Notes: the pineapple they have in Japan is way too sweet! I would definitely not have put the sugar into the sauce had I known. Also, I used olive oil to fry and it didn't come out too crisp. Next time, will definitely buy bigger shrimp! I served this with brown rice and stir-fried veggies. All in all, it was still good and reminded me of home.

Enjoy!

p.s. I forgot to mention that this event is also being hosted by Orchidea of Viaggi e Sapori

Thank you both!