Slow-Cooked Shrimp with Spicy Tomato Sauce

Remember the kifta kebab, and how I said that was my favorite meal to request when I visit my family? Well, this shrimp dish is my husband's favorite when we visit his family. The texture of this shrimp is unlike any I've ever had before. It's extremely soft and almost falls apart when you cut it. A spicy tomato based sauce really seeps into the shrimp, and the occasional olive provides a tart contrast in flavor.

The secret to achieving the soft texture of the shrimp is cooking the crap out it. This was a little bizarre to me at first, since I had always heard that you generally cook shrimp briefly. I thought anything more than a few minutes and you would end up with overcooked shrimp. However, it turns out that as with other slow cooked foods, you really can achieve a different texture in the shrimp by giving it plenty of time to cook.

Let me tell you, the first time I tried to make this at home it was a disaster. We got the recipe from my husband's mom by asking her over the phone. We didn't get it right. For example, she said to let it cook for "awhile" which we interpreted as 15-20 minutes, when in fact she meant more than an hour! We also added far too much tomato paste, which obscured all of the other spices in the dish. The shrimp turned out tough and flavorless. Let's just say that the food didn't remind my husband of home :-)

As is often the case with recipes like this that have never been written down, it turned out that the best thing to do was to wait until we visited the east coast again and watch over her shoulder as she made it. She was really excited to show off her recipe, and we all had a good time cooking together.

My husband's mom uses Adobo seasoning and Sazon Goya packets, but I wanted to be able to make it from the spices that I always have on hand at home, so I've modified the recipe a bit. Instead, I use spices that are found in those Goya mixtures in my own combination.

Also, this recipe calls for jumbo shrimp, but my husband's mom says she substitutes regular shrimp sometimes and it works out just fine.

Slow-Cooked Shrimp with Spicy Tomato Sauce
(serves 3-4)

To marinade the shrimp:
2 lbs jumbo shrimp, peeled, tail removed, and deveined (See this video for tips on how to devein, or you can buy them already peeled and deveined.)
1 lime
1/4 cup red wine
1 1/2 tsp oregano
black pepper, several generous grinds
4 cloves garlic, mashed or finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp salt

For the sauce:
2 Tbsp refined corn oil, or other high heat oil
cilantro
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
1/2 green pepper, finely chopped
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp achiote, (see the pinon post for information on achiote)
1 Tbsp tomato paste
handful of green olives, with pimento (optional)
broth, or water, about 2-3 cups

Put the peeled, deveined shrimp in a large bowl and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Leaving a little water in the bottom of the bowl, squeeze the juice of a full lime all over the shrimp, mixing with the water as you go. Add more water and rinse the shrimp once more. Finally, drain all of the water.

Add to the bowl the wine, oregano, black pepper, garlic, and salt. Mix everything together thoroughly. Optionally, you can let this sit for up to 30 minutes to marinade.

Put a large pot on medium-high heat and add corn oil. After the oil is hot, lower the heat to medium and prepare to spoon in the shrimp. Use a lid to cover the top as you spoon in the shrimp gradually, to prevent splattering. Finally, pour in the remaining marinade. Add a handful of cilantro, stems included. Stir the mixture to combine and cover. At this point, the liquid should be simmering/boiling.

Let it cook like this, covered, for about 45 minutes to an hour, but make sure to check it regularly and add broth or water if the liquid starts to dry up.

After cooking for 45 minutes to an hour, push all the shrimp to the sides making space in the middle of the pot. Add the onion, red and green pepper, coriander, achiote, and tomato paste. Let that cook for awhile in the center, stirring occasionally. When the onion starts to become translucent, stir everything together and add olives if desired.

Add another cup and a half of broth or water and cook for another 15-20 minutes. At this point, you can uncover and let the sauce dry up a bit, to the desired consistency. The sauce should be relatively thick. Don't forget to check your seasoning too.

Enjoy the shrimp over a bed of rice. I, of course, like to garnish with cilantro too. :-)

Moroccan Style Chicken and Chickpeas

I love this dish because it's so easy to make, but so flavorful and satisfying. It's actually pretty healthy, too, aside from the olive oil used to brown the chicken. One of my favorite parts is the spice combination: cinnamon contrasts with ginger, and chili pepper adds a little heat. The aromas from these spices are just amazing.

I know what you are thinking - "cinnamon??". It may seem odd to use this spice in anything except for dessert. However, cinnamon is actually commonly used in savory dishes in middle eastern cooking. It's the kind of thing that you may never think about trying, but once you do, you'll love it. The key to cooking savory food with cinnamon is to keep it as a background flavor so that it doesn't overpower the rest of the spices in the dish.

This recipe is based on a recipe from The Joy of Cooking called "Chicken Tagine With Chickpeas". However, it isn't actually cooked in a tagine, nor is it slow cooked, so I've changed the name here. (More about tagines in a future post - I actually do have my very own tagine and I love cooking with it.)

The technique used in this recipe is to brown the ingredients in layers, and then combine everything in the pot with some liquid and spices. In this case, the meat is browned first and then removed from the pan, to make room for the onions. After softening the onions and scallions, the meat is added back to the pan, with chickpeas, spices and water, to form a spicy broth. Simmering the broth for a few minutes allows the flavors to combine and keeps the meat really tender.

I've modified the original recipe to use cubes of chicken breast, instead of whole chicken parts. I've also added some thinly sliced zucchini mid-way through cooking. The zucchini maintains some of it's crunch and compliments the other flavors in the dish nicely.

I like to serve this over a bed of white rice mixed with cilantro. The cilantro in the rice compliments the garnish and makes the rice a little less plain. In fact, you can use this trick any time you want to spice up your white rice.

I think it would be pretty straightforward to make a vegetarian version of this dish. You could substitute tofu for the chicken, or just leave it out altogether.

This is what it looks like:



And here is the recipe:

Moroccan Style Chicken and Chickpeas
(serves 2-3)

2 Tbsp olive oil, or 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp olive oil for extra flavor
1 chicken breast, about .5-.75 pounds
1 onion, small to medium, chopped
1 bunch of scallions, chopped (I like to use both the green part, as well as the white part, except for the bulb at the very bottom.)
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (I like to rinse them right in the can, using the lid as an aid to drain.)
3/4 cup of water, or broth, but be sure to adjust the seasoning if you use broth
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
3/4 tsp ground ginger (I don't think that substituting fresh ginger would give quite the same flavor but let me know if you try it!)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8-1/4 tsp chili pepper, to taste
1/4 tsp salt
black pepper, several generous grinds
1 zucchini, medium size, cut in half once lengthwise and thinly sliced, about 1.5-2 cups chopped zucchini
cilantro
1 cup uncooked white rice

Cut the chicken breast into 1 inch cubes. Add the olive oil to a large pot and heat up over medium heat. Add the chicken and brown just until no longer pink on all sides. The chicken shouldn't be cooked through at this stage - it will finish cooking later. Remove the chicken.

Add the onions and cook for a couple of minutes, adding more olive oil if the pan begins to dry out. Add the scallions and cook until the onions are softened and translucent.

Add the chickpeas, water, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, cinnamon, and chili pepper. Return the chicken to the pan and stir everything together until well combined.

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and then simmer for 8-10 minutes.

Add the zucchini, with a little more salt and pepper. Cover again and simmer for 5 more minutes.

At this point, it's time to uncover, taste the sauce, and adjust the seasoning. You could add up to another 1/4 tsp each of ginger, salt and/or cinnamon, so adjust to your taste. If desired, you can also raise the heat and boil some of the extra liquid off to make the sauce thicker.

Cook the rice according to the directions on the package. After cooking and while the rice is still warm, stir in a handful of roughly chopped cilantro. The heat of the rice will wilt the cilantro.

Serve the chicken and chickpeas over a bed of the rice, and garnish with cilantro.