To calm Caribbean cravings, nothing better than rice with shrimp. This recipe is very typical of the Colombian coasts, where the ingredients can vary a little. I want to share with you the way I have adapted it. Remember that nothing is said in the kitchen, so try it, adjust it to your tastes and keep the formula that resonates with you the most.
You can also make rice with seafood with this same recipe.
Ingredients:
(5 servings)
800 grams of raw shrimp
2 cups of rice (I used parboiled rice)
1/2 white onion (big head)
1 large green onion (long)
1 red bell pepper
1/4 leek
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 large carrot
1/2 cup of peas (optional)
5 tablespoons of natural tomato puree
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp achiote (optional)
2 tablespoons grated coconut (optional)
zest of 1 lemon
Juice of half a lemon
Chopped cilantro to taste
Preparation:
As in the preparation of the seafood casserole, it is important that you make a "background" so that the rice has a good flavor. You can omit this step...but therein lies the secret to make it delicious. You can also use fish stock to cook the rice.
To make the sauce, peel the shrimp and reserve the shells. In a pot, sauté half the amount of paprika, onions and leek and a spoonful of tomato puree with oil. Stir and then add the shrimp shells plus two whole shrimp. Add 4 cups of water, stir, and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Then blend everything. You can do it with a hand blender, if you don't have one, do it with a regular blender but be careful with the temperature. Then pass it through a strainer and set aside.
I like to cook the peas and carrots separately, so I put them in hot water for about 5 minutes. I bought the peas frozen so they don't need much cooking. Then I set them aside.
Add to a hot pot two tablespoons of olive oil, the achiote (if you have it) and the rice you are going to use and sauté it a little, this is so that the rice is loose. In this case I used parboiled rice. After doing this for about 3 minutes at can temperature, turn it down and add the 4 cups of water, 1 teaspoon of salt, the turmeric and let the rice cook.
When the rice is almost ready, in a separate pan add olive oil and the remaining onions, bell pepper, leek, garlic and tomato puree. Stir over medium heat until everything is "poached", that is to say, the stew becomes a little shiny and the onions are transparent. Then add the shrimp. Keep in mind that if the shrimp are previously cooked, the time you should leave them is very short. In my case these were raw and took about 7 minutes to be ready. You can see that they are ready when they change color and shrink a little.
The final step is to mix the rice, shrimp, peas and carrot. Stir and add the grated coconut, lime zest and lime juice - this last one is optional but for me it's what gives it the flavor explosion! Adjust flavor with salt and pepper, add cilantro to taste and serve.
The best part is that @weinme.de helped me find the ideal pairing to accompany this delightful dish. I paired it with this German Baron Knyphausen 1818 Riesling, which comes with the March box selection; 3 wines, video tasting and illustrated notes that make it much easier to enjoy good wines. I am a wine lover but I know very little about them and that is why this German-Colombian project has delighted me! Visit www.weinme.de to learn more about it and get a taste for some wines.
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Con amor y sazón, La Negrita.