Coconut Stewed Shrimp

By Chris De La Rosa
Culinary Specialist

It’s very rare you’ll find someone from the Caribbean islands, who don’t enjoy great seafood. It’s just natural, I think. Fried, grilled, stewed, curried, oven-baked, fire-roasted and in stews, like this one, we’ve got so many ways to enjoy the bounty of the Caribbean Sea. Yea we even do ceviche too!

Here’s one of my favorite ways to stew plump shrimp, in a wicked coconut sauce. First try and it will be your fave too.

Important! If doing this recipe gluten-free, please go through the full list of ingredients to make sure they meet with your specific gluten-free dietary needs.

You’ll Need…
2 lbs — 21-25 shrimp (cleaned & deveined)
1 teaspoon sea salt (divided)
3 tablespoon olive oil (divided)
1 heaping tablespoon Caribbean Green Seasoning
1 teaspoon black pepper (divided)
1 large onion (diced)
6-8 cloves garlic (crushed)
2 scallions (chopped)
1 medium tomato (diced)
4-5 sprigs thyme
3/4 teaspoon paprika
2-3 pimento peppers (aka seasoning peppers)
1/2 teaspoon Scotch Bonnet flakes (or fresh)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 lime (juice)
2 tablespoon chopped parsley
lemon juice for washing the shrimp.
If you can’t source the pimento (seasoning) peppers, feel free to use diced, sweet, bell peppers.

Method:
Peel (however, I left the tails on, but you can remove them), de-vein and wash the shrimp with lemon juice and cool water. Drain dry and season with 1/2 the salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1 tablespoon olive oil and the Caribbean Green Seasoning. Stir well and marinate for 10 minutes.

Heat a wide saucepan on a medium flame, then add the seasoned shrimp and stir. The pan was dry as we added olive oil when we marinated the shrimp. Cook for 1-2 minutes (so we don’t overcook them), remove and set aside. By cooking the shrimp first, we’ll get that lovely seafood base to start with.

Now crank the heat to med/high and go in with the rest of the olive oil. Should you want to get more of that coconut flavor, you’re free to use coconut oil here. Now toss in the onion, pimento peppers, thyme, scallions and remaining salt. Turn the heat down to low, so you don’t burn anything, add the remaining black pepper, garlic and scotch bonnet flakes (use any pepper flakes you have or like). Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan.

Three minutes later and your kitchen will be blessed with the lovely aroma of niceness. Now go in with the wine and de-glaze the pan. Turn the heat back up to medium. As the wine burns off, add the tomato, brown sugar and smoked paprika. This (sugar) will balance the acidity and (paprika) give the dish a smoky undertone.

Go in with the coconut milk now, turn the heat to low, and let it gently cook to combine all those flavors. About 5-6 minutes later (simmer) you’ll have a creamy, velvety sort of texture to the sauce….. it’s now time to add back the shrimp to the pan, heat through, toss in the parsley and boom!…. you’re done. However, as you turn off the stove, go in with the freshly squeezed lime (or lemon) juice.

Yea, now taste for salt and adjust according, and have some scented, steamed rice ready, for an incredible meal.

This recipe is courtesy of Gourmand Award-winning cookbook author and founder of CaribbeanPot.com, Chris De La Rosa. With over 450 printable recipes, with step by step cooking instructions and demo videos, PLUS over 1 million social/fan connections, globally, every month, CaribbeanPot.com is the world’s #1 resource for Caribbean Culinary Culture. Connect with Chis on Instagram: www.instagram.com/caribbeanpot/.