Zoodles with Crispy Crocodile

This is my third recipe with crocodile meat and I think it’s my ultimate favourite so far! These zoodles with crispy crocodile slices are very crunchy, light, citrusy; just perfect for the warm summer months and a quick weeknight dinner. If you ever get your hands on crocodile meat, I definitely recommend this recipe!

It’s July and summer in the Northern Hemisphere. When the weather warms up I often like light, fresh, meals that include plenty of raw vegetable and seasonal fruits. This recipe was born of the desire to create something that hits all the spots for crunchy, relatively healthy, light, and colourful. It’s a fun meal to create. If you are curious where to get crocodile meat in the Vancouver area, check out the Hills Foods website. This is where I source a lot of my strange and unusual game meats.

Crocodile tail fillet is a somewhat fatty meat. That’s why it crisps up beautifully when pan-fried as in this recipe. And, it also absorbs marinades and flavours extremely well. For this reason, I highly recommend marinating it at least 6 hours in advance. You won’t regret it! When frying these crocodile slices, make sure to adjust the heat a bit and lowering it after a few minutes. Monitor the frying pan carefully to ensure that the slices reach your preferred level of crispiness without burning them or anything of the sort.

I wish I knew where to obtain snake meat in Vancouver; I think this might be a fun recipe to try with other interesting reptile meats. Let me know in the comments if you know where I can source snake meat in Canada. Would love to give this a try! If you can’t find crocodile meat, this recipe can work with other more conventional meats such as chicken, beef, pork and even fish. It also would go well with tofu as in my Crispy Tofu Zoodles recipe. You would just need to change the marinade a bit, add other fruits and vegetables, and change the dressing.

Ingredients

1. One 400 gram crocodile tail fillet
2. Two tablespoons dark soy sauce
3. One tablespoon fish sauce
4. One teaspoon each of garlic powder and onion powder.
5. Two tablespoons chilli paste or one teaspoon chilli flakes (adjust the chilli according to your preferred level of heat)
6. One large ripe nectarine
7. Three or four ripe apricots
8. Two stalks of spring onion
9. Half a cup of shredded purple cabbage, lettuce or radicchio
10. One large fresh zucchini
11. Half a cup finely chopped cilantro
12. For the dressing: Three garlic cloves
13. One tablespoon olive oil
14. Juice of one lime
15. One tablespoon pomegranate syrup
16. Salt to taste
17. One teaspoon maple syrup
18. Half a cup of canola oil

Method

1. Six or eight hours before serving, slice the crocodile fillet into one centimetre thick slices.
2. Place in a bowl and add the soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, chilli paste or flakes. Cover and refrigerate for 6-8 hours or overnight.
3. In a large bowl, using a spiralizer create long zoodles out of the zucchini.
4. Mix in chopped spring onion, slices of nectarine and apricot, shredded cabbage, lettuce or radicchio and the chopped cilantro.
5. Mix the dressing ingredients: chopped garlic, lime juice, olive oil, pomegranate syrup, maple syrup and salt. Pour them on top of the zoodles mix.
6. In a nonstick frying pan, heat the canola oil on high.
7. When sufficiently hot, add the crocodile slices. Turn them over using tongs to ensure uniform browning and crispiness.
8. Drain the crocodile slices and place them on a plate with a paper towel to remove the excess oil.
9. Assemble your plate by adding some zoodles and crocodile slices. And, you can also add a few more nectarine or apricot slices on the side. They add a lovely tang and sweetness! Enjoy!

Interested in trying a few other crocodile recipes? Check out these recipes:

1. Roast Crocodile Tail
2. Crocodile Steak

© 2019, L.E.. All rights reserved.