Description[]
Hot spiced prawns. Among the abundant shellfish off the coast of Mozambique are the giant shrimp-like crustaceans called prawns. Substitute the largest shrimp you can find for this recipe - less than a dozen per pound. They should be cleaned and shelled, but the tail shell should be left on, if possible, to enhance the flavor.
Ingredients[]
- 2 – 3 lbs prawns or large shrimp
- 1 batch piripiri sauce
Piripiri sauce[]
- 4 red peppers, crushed or 2 heaping tsp cayenne pepper
- ¼ tsp salt
- juice of 2 medium-size lemons
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 6 sprigs parsley, chopped
- 1 cup butter or oil
Directions[]
- Clean shellfish.
Piripiri sauce[]
- For a marinade, combine all the ingredients except butter in a bowl with meat or seafood.
- Stir to coat each piece well.
- If you’ll be cooking within a couple of hours, let the mixture sit at room temperature; otherwise, cover and refrigerate.
- Marinating overnight allows all the flavors to blend nicely.
Assembly[]
- Put prawns or shrimp in a bowl and pour sauce over them, stirring to coat each piece well.
- Set aside to marinate (soak) for several hours.
- Grilling over charcoal fire is the preferred cooking method; broiling is an alternative.
- To broil, place whole prawns or shrimp on a rack over a pan that can catch drips.
- Put the rack about 3 inches from your broiler, and sear for 3 – 4 minutes on each side.
- You can also cook them by frying quickly in a skillet of hot butter until they become golden pink (to avoid scorching and smoking, use clarified butter).
- Meanwhile, heat the marinade in which the prawns or shrimp were soaked.
- Pass at the table as sauce.