Shrimp Taco

Taco is a traditional Mexican food made with tortilla. Filling is placed in the center of the tortilla and folded around the filling. I like tacos for the fact that the filling can be anything from cooked meats, seafood to only veggies and it is easy to put together in no time, depending on the filling used. And tortillas can be wheat or corn based.

For the third & final day of tortilla dishes, I have shrimp corn tacos. Shrimp is the primary component of the filling and the rest of the components are optional and can be added or omitted. I used shrimp, shredded lettuce, roasted corn, cheese and salsa whereas husband did not want roasted corn in his taco. As you can see in the images, I was very liberal with my filling. 🙂 Tacos can be served as a snack, light meal or as a regular meal for dinner or lunch. Last night we wanted a light meal and made these tacos and filled the tortillas with lots of filling. Yesterday it was cloudy all day and by the time I fixed the dinner, it was almost dark. I even hesitated if I should make the take tacos for the blog and click in poor lighting but fortunately, the photos came out ok.

The most time consuming part of this preparation was grilling the corn. I usually cut the kernels of the cob and pan roast the kernels. This time I roasted the corn on the cob in the oven. I set my broil setting of the the oven to high and roasted the corn on the middle rack. This took almost ½ hour for the corn to get the charred, though the corn was cooked 15-20 minutes into roasting. Next time I will try placing the corn on the top rack. For the shrimp I used the simple ginger garlic, chili powder, salt and lime juice marinade and sautéed the shrimp until cooked. Assembling the tacos took less than 5 minutes. All the ingredients mentioned are approximate measures and can be adjust to one’s preference.

Cooking Time: 25 - 30 minutes (most of the time is to grill corn)
Yields: 2 Tacos

Ingredients:

2 Tortillas
Shrimp
Roasted Corn
Salsa
Lettuce shredded
Cheese (I used shredded Mexican blend cheese)

Corn

2 Corn on the Cob (you will not need all the kernels)
½ - 1 tsp. Butter, melt
Salt to sprinkle on the corn

Shrimp

10 Shrimp (I used 36-40 count shrimp)
½ - ¾ tsp. Chili Powder
¼ tsp. Salt
½ tsp. Lime Juice
½ - ¾ tsp. Ginger Garlic Paste
Oil for sautéing shrimp

Salsa

2 Cherry Tomatoes or 1 small Tomato, chopped
2 tbsp. chopped Red Onion
1 small Green Chili
1 - 1 ½ tbsp. Cilantro
½ - ¾ tsp. Lime Juice
¼ tsp. Salt

Preparation:

Shrimp - Peel shrimp, wash and marinate it with all the ingredients listed under shrimp.
Marinate for 15 - 30 minutes or longer. Sauté shrimp in oil for 3-5 minutes until shrimp is cooked.
Keep aside until ready to serve the tacos.
Corn - Remove the husk and silk hair from the corn.
Apply butter, sprinkle salt on the cob, place on a lined baking sheet.
Broil the cob on middle rack for 20-25 minutes until corn is lightly charred. I put the corn on the middle rack but I think I should have put it on the top rack to speed up the roasting process. Keep turning the cob every 4-5 minutes to evenly roast the corn kernels on all sides.
Remove from the oven and let cool.
Cut the kernels off the cob using a knife.
Salsa - Finely chop onion and tomatoes.
Remove the seeds from the tomato before chopping.
Sprinkle salt and leave the mixture for sometime. Discard the juices.
Mince cilantro, green chili and a garlic clove with some lime juice. Add this to onion tomato mixture and mix well.
Keep aside until ready to use.
Assembling - Warm tortillas in a pan. Place lettuce in the middle, place shrimp, corn, cheese and salsa on top of lettuce. Bring the both the edges to lift the taco and dig in.