← Nouns Cooking · Mexican

Ingredients

• 900 g raw shell-on prawns (heads on if possible)
• 2 l Water
• 1 Bay leaves
• ½ white onion
• 50 g dried shrimp, for extra depth (optional)
• 4 Dried guajillo chillies, stems and seeds removed
• 1 chipotle chilli in adobo
• 450 g ripe tomatoes
• ½ white onion
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 2 Carrot, in chunks
• 400 g Potato, in 2 cm cubes
• 1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
• 1 handful coriander (or 2 sprigs epazote)
• 1½ tsp salt, plus more to taste
• 3 limes, in wedges
• ½ white onion, finely chopped

Method

1. Peel and devein the prawns, keeping the heads and shells. Chill the prawn meat. Put the shells and heads in a pot with the water, bay leaf and onion half (and dried shrimp, if using) and simmer for 20 min. Strain, pressing on the shells; you should have about 1.75 litres of stock.
2. Meanwhile, toast the guajillos in a dry pan for 20–30 seconds per side and soak them in hot water for 10 min.
3. Blend the drained guajillos with the chipotle, tomatoes, onion, garlic and 250 ml of the stock until smooth. Strain.
4. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, pour in the chilli purée and fry for 5 min, stirring, until it darkens. Add the rest of the stock, the carrots, potatoes, oregano, coriander and salt.
5. Simmer for 12–15 min, until the vegetables are just tender.
6. Add the prawns and simmer for 3–4 min, just until pink and curled. Taste for salt and serve with lime wedges and chopped onion.

Tips

• Don’t skip the shell stock: it’s where most of the flavour comes from.
• Dried shrimp is very salty, so taste before adding all the salt.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Mexican Food Journal Maricruz Avalos My Latina Table