Pages

Wednesday 10 December 2014

#ewew makes Shrimp & Mango Cocktail

This is a very popular starter found on many restaurant menus of western-type steakhouses.  I, too, order it quite frequently when I'm dining out.  The starter I'm talking about is the Shrimp & Mango Cocktail.  It can be served chilled or at room temperature.
 
This dish is very easy to replicate at home.  I would choose to make this appetiser, whenever I'm cooking a western meal, coz it's something that can be prepared ahead of time, thereby leaving you with more time to concentrate on the preparation of your mains.

Ingredients:
 
300g medium-sized prawns (about 15)
A few leaves of iceberg lettuce
1/2 a medium mango
3 tbsp store-bought mayonnaise
1 tbsp tomato ketchup 
 
Preparation:
 
Pluck a few leaves off the iceberg lettuce, wash and drain really well.  Then, shred it finely. 

Peel and dice the mango.

Leave the prawns unpeeled but remove the entrails (aka prawn poop) if you can.  Reason is because removing the shit entrails, when the prawns are not slit in the back, proves to be quite a daunting task.  So, I wouldn't bother since I'm not serving this dish at a fine dining restaurant or to a Masterchef judge!! :D :D  Although westerners would probably baulk if they find these entrails not removed but we Asians are more tolerant of this (we've eaten our fair share of 'prawn poop' with our "Char Kway Teow", I suppose).
 
Method:

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil.  Drop your prawns in and as soon as they turn pink (or curl up in a loose "C" shape), they're done.

In the meantime, prepare an ice bath of ice cubes + cold water.

Dish out the prawns and plunge them straight into an ice bath (a technique known as 'shocking').  This quickly stops the cooking process and ensure that your prawns do not overcook and stay crunchy to the bite.

Once it's cool enough to handle, peel them.  You'll end up with these.

Next, make your cocktail (or Rose Marie) sauce with 3 parts mayo to 1 part tomato ketchup.  Stir until well combined.

You're now ready to assemble your Shrimp & Mango Cocktail.

Line your cocktail glass (or bowl) with finely shredded lettuce at the bottom.

Spoon in your mango cubes.

Arrange a few shrimps on top of the mango cubes (about 3 - 4 in a cocktail glass and 6 - 7 in a bowl).

Spoon a good dollop of cocktail sauce on top.

Or, alternatively, you can mix your cocktail sauce with your mango cubes and shrimps and spoon them onto the bed of shredded lettuce (although, I think, the former has a nicer presentation)...it's really up to you.

And there you have it....a relatively easy starter of Shrimp & Mango Cocktail that's really popular with everyone ;)  

The crunch of the shrimps, coupled with the sweetness from the mango and the tangy cocktail sauce, makes this a very appealing starter...one that will earn you 'brownie' points with your family and friends (no doubt). 

Serves 2 as a starter (in a bowl) or 4 (in a cocktail glass)
 

16 comments:

  1. I love this cocktail very much and find it a delight as an appetizer when dining out. Somehow I never thought of replication at home possibly because I am not much of a seafood lover. But hey, since you have provided the recipe and know-how I will probably give it a go and have it as a main meal instead hee..hee..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can go from a big meal (at Epicuro) to a small meal like this?

      Delete
  2. Oooo...lovely! Love mango in dishes like smoked duck and mango. Just had Thai-style mango chicken yesterday - will blog about it...soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thai-style salad with mango is good too. I will wait for your post.

      Delete
  3. it'd be fun to see what other fruits might work well for this recipe ... mangosteens! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, mangosteens could work...it's sweet (with a slight tartness) just like mangoes! ;)

      Delete
  4. I probably won't be trying this. I'm a horrible shrimp cook, even after all these years. The only shrimps that I can manage are overcooked shrimps :/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know what...shrimps are one of the easiest to cook...and overcooked shrimps (and fish) are still good to eat (as long as they're fresh). Meat is even more difficult to cook...and overcooking meat makes them dry and chewy :(

      Delete
  5. I like this dish so I will remove the entrails after I have peeled the prawns after their ice bath because I think the taste of entrails spoil the taste of the prawns. Ckt too full of wok hei so the wok hei will cover the taste of the entrails.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Guess what? I left the entrails in and it didn't taste any different to me...kekeke!!

      Delete
    2. I thought you are going to say you like the taste of the entrails! LOL!

      Delete
    3. eww.....that's disgusting....wakakaka!!!

      Delete
  6. What type of mangoes did you use? Lily mango, indian mango or some other type of mango?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I use any mangoes that I can find....as long as they're not small ones (the ones you mentioned are fine).

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...