Spicy Jumbo Shrimps With Old Cape Flavours

Submitted by Zurie

"A simple shrimp (prawn) recipe with a leaning towards the tandoori style. Use the largest shrimp you can get, and sea-fresh shrimps are always better tasting than farmed shrimp. But if beggars can't be choosers, the spice in this recipe will make any shrimp or prawn taste great! (Edited on 21 Oct 2010)"

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 2 lbs shrimp, large, peeled, deveined and rinsed (2 lbs or 1 kg is the cleaned weight)
• 1 cup yoghurt, full cream (or Greek yoghurt)
• 1⁄4 cup honey
• 1⁄4 cup fresh lemon juice (lime juice is also great)
• 8 cardamom pods, crushed (use a pestle and mortar)
• 2 tablespoons fresh ginger (minced, grated or very finely chopped)
• 2 tablespoons garlic, fresh (peeled, chopped and crushed)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons turmeric, ground
• 2 teaspoons paprika (not hot)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or use a few drops hot sauce)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt

directions

1. In a large bowl mix the ingredients from the yoghurt, down to the salt. Whisk well. It's best to do this well ahead, and leave this sauce, covered, at room temperature -- the flavours meld and improve a lot.
2. Place the cleaned shrimps (preferable in one layer) in a large oven dish or tin, and coat the shrimps with the mixture. Keep some of the sauce for later, if there is enough. Shake the dish, so the thickish sauce penetrates to the bottom of the dish.
3. Marinate the shrimps in the fridge for 1 hour.
4. To grill over hot coals, skewer the shrimps close together on skewers (soaked in water if using wooden skewers). Grill quickly and carefully only until they curl up and turn pink, using any leftover or extra sauce to brush them with.
5. Or bake in a 350 deg F/180 deg C oven, brushing once with the rest of the marinade.
6. Bake only until they turn pink and curl up -- better watch this, as I forgot to time this bit! If they're cold out of the fridge they will take longer -- it's better to take the dish out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking time. (Tonight, cold from the fridge, they took only about 20 mins to cook).
7. If done in the oven, serve with the juices, over rice. If grilled on skewers, serve with salads and bread.
8. Be warned that shrimps shrink a lot in cooking, and as a main dish 2 lbs/1 kg will really only serve 4 adults!
9. You could stretch it by serving it as a starter, on baby mixed greens moistened with vinaigrette. Serve with crusty bread.
10. Prep time does not include cleaning the shrimps or the marinating time.

Reviews

[Mia in Germany]

This is one of the tastiest shrimp recipes I have ever tried! When I asked DH how to rate it, he immediately said "five stars" which is a rare comment, mostly he says, well, four to five, not quite five... So, this is a BIG winner! I used Greek sheep yoghurt and made the shrimps in the oven. 20 minutes were perfect.<br/>Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe!<br/>Made for the Cook-A-Thon in memory of Gideon.

 

[Artandkitchen]

Dear Zurie<br/>first of all: thanks for sharing your know how.<br/>Your shrimps were so delicious, that my husband sad "write it to Zurie"!<br/>It's not a joke, today we had a wonderful meal, I didn't expect something so special!<br/>I've chosen this recipe, for the "spice dish game" of this month, and it was really a good choice.<br/>I will keep this recipe for me and my guests!

 

[MarraMamba]

superb shrimp, an easy but flavorful way to prepare them. I will make this again and again

 

[WiGal]

Featured in my Book#237470. Originally reviewed on June 23, 2008. Love it! Love it! Love it! Seasonings are perfectly balanced. I am very interested in using cardamon on meat instead of just in baking at Christmas time. Easy to do. I definitely will be making this again. There was a lot of sauce leftover-about half. I had my shrimp in about 9 minutes and I did move them around a bit. I was using a clear glass baking dish and the bottoms were cooking faster than the tops. I bet this would also be great on chicken breasts too. Thanks Zurie for sharing a piece of Africa with us. Made for ZWT4 for the Flying Dutchess'.

 

[Alskann]

This was delicious and flavorful. I loved the spices. I baked these in the oven and they came out perfect. We will definitely make these again. Made for zwt4.