Colombian Shrimp Cocktail (Coctel de Camaron)

Colombian Shrimp Cocktail (Coctel de Camaron)

Colombian Shrimp Cocktail (Coctel de Camaron)


If you have been following this blog, you will notice that I have a penchant for street food. I grew up eating street food. Not something to be proud of, knowing how unhealthy street food can be, but it's not something I regret either. Did I tell you that there's ZERO street food in Quebec City? Well, there isn't any since food trucks are prohibited. Boring.. 

As a die-hard street food lover, I always hunt for street food vendors whenever I travel, including on my last travel to Colombia. I visited few major cities and tasted their street food and it's all good! Some of their classic menu that I can't get enough off are their orange juice (their orange juice is not like the orange juice we know, it's not sour at all), frozen mango juice in a tubular plastic bag (in Indonesia we have this kind of ice too and very popular for kids, we call it es mambo, don't ask where the name comes from, I really have no idea), and shrimp cocktail (coctel de camarones) that I ate in Cartagena. 

Today's recipe is the shrimp salad. Yes, I know it's not an Indonesian recipe but it is so good, I want to share it with you. It's very easy to prepare too and you can substitute the shrimp with any seafood you like actually, I had it with octopus, snail, fake crab, and calamari, it was all finggahlickin' gewd. You should try it, really. It makes a perfect appetizer too.


So let's get started!

Ingredients: 
300 gr cold water shrimp because it has a stronger flavor compare to normal shrimp (I used peeled Atlantic shrimp)
300 gr small, peeled shrimp
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
3 tbsp mayo
2 tbsp Heinz seafood sauce (normal ketchup will do just fine)
1 red onion, finely chopped 
Hot sauce to add some kick, I suggest to not use Sriracha tho because the garlic taste of it will over power your sauce
Blackpepper
Saltine crackers

Cooking steps: 
  1. In a bowl, put shrimps in a bowl (drain it a bit if it has a lot of liquid), salt, and baking soda, mix gently and make sure everything is coated, set aside (in the fridge, d'oh),
  2. Meanwhile, let's prepare the sauce so it has time to sit and let have the flavor developed,
  3. In another bowl, mix 1 tbsp lime juice, mayo, ketchup and red onion (the real Colombian cheviche has a strong flavor of onion, but you are free to adjust it to your taste), hot sauce if you use any (I didn't), and freshly grind blackpepper, mix thoroughly and set aside,
  4. Put the shrimp in a pot, add 3 glasses of water and 1 tbsp of lime juice, turn on the heat on medium, cook with a lid on,
  5. Check the temperature from time to time using a thermometer for cooking, once it reaches 170 F, turn the heat down to simmer (or even close it off completely), and continue cooking until the shrimps are pink and firm (not rubber firm tho), or about 7 minutes, 
  6. Drain the shrimp then rinse it with cold, running water, 
  7. Drain the shrimp once again, make sure there are no liquid left, otherwise the sauce will be watery and won't coat the shrimp well, I blot the shrimps with kitchen towel,
  8. Add the shrimps into the sauce bowl, toss gently to make sure the shrimps are well coated with the sauce, 
  9. Serve with saltine crackers and a slice of fresh lime. 

So there you go, as simple as that. I followed this recipe over here and only added a tiny bit of adjustment. That recipe taught me how to cook shrimp to perfection; cooked and firm but still juicy and not rubbery hard. It's perfect!




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