Broiled Spicy Shrimp

It is amazing how our food preferences change over a period of time. The food that you despised for almost 20 years of your early life suddenly becomes your favorite food. Back then if someone told me prawns/shrimp would one day become one of my favorite seafoods, I would have laughed. Back then I could not even stand the smell of it. In fact, it was the smell that turned me off. Then one day one of my aunt’s sends some freshwater prawns from her village and my grandaunt, who was an excellent cook made this delicious prawn curry. I happened to be visiting this grandaunt that day and aroma of the curry was so tempting that I had to taste. And since then, prawns and shrimp have gradually become one of my favorite foods. Now I always look for an excuse to cook shrimp.

Whenever I see a new shrimp recipe that looks delicious, I try it out. Back in October, when we did cooking from Food52 theme, I had bookmarked spicy shrimp recipe. The shrimp in this recipe is grilled and I broiled it in my oven. Though I used the broil mode, it is still cooked in the oven and hence makes its grand entry to this year’s Bake-a-thon.

I normally make a shrimp curry or saute it with some spices. Since shrimp cooks very fast, I feel grilling or sauteing it in a pan is faster than grilling, broiling or even baking. I was tempted to grill it in my grill pan but chose to broil it to fit the theme.

I usually use Indian spices for the marinade and this recipe calls for making a marinade with sriracha sauce. This is a nice variation to regular Indian marinade I make. Though Sriracha is spicy, it is a bit sweetish as well. Recipe also called for some sugar, which I felt would make shrimp sweet and left it out. I do not like sweet in my savory food. If one wishes, please go ahead and use sugar.

Spicy shrimp can be served as a side dish, snack or a starter at a party. It is also a great recipe for grilling at a barbeque parties as well.

Source: Food52
Total Time: 22 – 30 minutes excludes marination time
Preparation: 10 – 15 minutes
Bake Time: 12 – 15 minutes
Marination: 2 – 4 hours
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• ⅙ or 3 tbsp. Sriracha
• ⅙ or 3 tbsp. Olive Oil or any other oil
• ½ tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 – 3 Garlic Cloves, crushed or minced (I used 3 cloves, about 1 tbsp. when minced)
• 3 – 4 tbsp. Cilantro chopped and more for garnish
• ½ tsp. Sugar (I left it out)
• ½ tsp. Black Pepper Powder, freshly ground (adjust to taste)
• ½ – ¾ tsp. Salt (adjust to taste)
• 1 lb. Large Shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used 20 – 26 count)

Preparation:

• In a bowl mix together all the ingredients, except shrimp.
• Add shrimp and rub the marinade to it.
• Marinate for 2 – 4 hours in the refrigerator or even longer.
• Turn on the oven and put it on broil mode.
• Skewer shrimp on to skewer rods. If using wooden skewers, soak in water for about an hour before using.
• Broil the shrimp for 12 – 15 minutes, turning around once in between for even cooking on both sides.
• If using a grill, grill for about 2 – 3 minutes per side or until shrimp is cooked.
• Remove the shrimp from the oven, slide off the shrimp from the skewers using a fork. Pile them on a serving platter, garnish with cilantro and serve.