Arroz con camarones or Shrimp rice
User Reviews
4.7
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Prep Time
15 mins
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Cook Time
25 mins
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Total Time
40 mins
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Servings
6
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Course
Main Course
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Cuisine
South American, Ecuadorian
Arroz con camarones or Shrimp rice
Description
This version of Arroz con camarones starts by marinating shrimp in salt, pepper, cumin, and crushed garlic, then briefly boiling them. The cooking water is saved to cook the rice, imparting seafood flavor. Shrimp shells are removed from most shrimp, with a few left whole for garnish. Rice is toasted lightly in garlic and oil before adding the reserved shrimp water to cook.
Separately, butter is melted to sauté diced red onion, bell pepper, tomato, parsley, ground annatto, salt, pepper, and remaining cumin, creating a fragrant base. White wine is added toward the end to enrich the flavors. This vegetable mixture is combined with the cooked rice and shrimp, blending savory, herbal, and subtly spicy notes.
The dish is traditionally served with curtido salsa made from tomato and onion, fried ripe plantains, and aji criollo hot sauce, which provide balance through freshness, sweetness, and heat, respectively. This makes a flavorful and textured main course highlighting shrimp and seasoned rice.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Shrimp shells on, deveined, raw
- 2 tsp cumin
- 4 garlic crushed, cloves
- 4 garlic minced, cloves
- 2 tbs neutral cooking oil sunflower, avocado, etc, generic cooking oil
- 2 cups rice uncooked
- 3 tbs butter
- 1 red onion diced
- 1 bell pepper diced
- 2 tomato peeled and seeded, diced
- 3 tbs parsley finely chopped, plus more to garnish
- 1 tsp annatto ground; or achiote
- ½ cup white wine
- salt
- black pepper
Sides:
- tomato curtido salsa
- onion curtido salsa
- plantains fried, ripe
- aji criollo hot sauce
Instructions
- Marinate the shrimp with salt, pepper, 1 tsp of cumin, and the crushed garlic.
- Bring water to boil in a large pot, add the shrimp and boil for about 2 minutes.
- Remove the shrimp from the water and reserve 2 ½ cups of the water they cooked in to prepare the rice.
- Remove the shells and tails from the shrimp; leave the tails on a few of the shrimp that will be used as a garnish. Chop about half of the shrimp in half and leave the other half whole.
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan or pot, add the minced garlic, cook for about 2-3 minutes on medium heat.
- Add the rice to the garlic and oil, mix well until the rice is coated with oil.
- Add the 2 ½ cups of water that was used to boil the shrimp. Bring to boil and reduce heat to low.
- In the meantime, melt the butter over medium heat in a large sauté pan; add the onions, peppers, tomatoes, parsley, ground achiote, salt, pepper, and remaining 1 tsp of cumin. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often.
- Add the white wine to the vegetable mix and continue cooking for another 5 minutes, until the onions and peppers are tender.
- Mix in the sautéed vegetables and chopped shrimp with the rice, which should still be cooking, and cook on low heat until the rice is tender.
- Add the remaining shrimp during the last minutes and mix well.
- Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.
- Sprinkle with chopped parsley and garnish with shrimp with tails on.
- Serve with avocado slices, tomato and onion curtido salad, lime slices, and of course some good aji or hot sauce.
User Reviews
Overall Rating
4.7
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