Aguachile Verde (Shrimp in Green Chile Lime Sauce)
Shrimp in a bright, spicy sauce of lime, serrano and cilantro, with cucumber, red onion and avocado.
Recipe in testing: I'm cooking it in my TM7™ and will update the steps and the photo with my own.
Aguachile comes from the Pacific coast of Mexico, mostly Sinaloa and Nayarit, and the name says it all: chile water. Shrimp sits in a cold, green sauce of lime juice, serrano peppers and cilantro, with crisp cucumber, thin slices of red onion and creamy avocado. It is fresh, sour and spicy all at once, and it disappears fast with a stack of crunchy tostadas.
In Mexico the shrimp often goes in raw and firms up in the lime juice, but lime juice does not make raw seafood safe to eat. Here the Thermomix® TM7™ steams the shrimp in the Varoma for a few minutes, just until pink, and then blends the sauce in seconds. You keep the snap and the bright flavor, and everyone at the table can dig in.
Made in the Thermomix® TM7™
Aguachile Verde (Shrimp in Green Chile Lime Sauce)
Makes: 4 appetizer servings
- Prep25 min
- Cook10 min
- Total50 min
- Serves4
Ingredients
For the shrimp
For the green sauce
To serve
Instructions
- Arrange the shrimp in a single layer in the Varoma dish.
- Place the water in the mixing bowl and heat 6 min/Varoma/speed 1, until it steams.
- Set the Varoma in position and steam 4 min/Varoma/speed 1, until the shrimp just turn pink and opaque. If some are still gray, steam 1 min/Varoma/speed 1 more.
- Move the shrimp right away into a bowl of ice water for 2 minutes, then drain, pat dry and refrigerate. Empty the mixing bowl and rinse it with cold water.
- Place the lime juice, serrano peppers, cucumber, cilantro, garlic, cold water and salt in the mixing bowl and blend 30 sec/speed 5-10, increasing speed gradually, until smooth and bright green. Taste and add more salt or lime if you like.
- Put the shrimp in a shallow serving bowl or a molcajete, add the red onion and the cucumber rounds, pour the green sauce over and refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Top with the avocado and cilantro leaves and serve cold with tostadas or tortilla chips.
Tips
- The heat lives in the serranos: use 1 pepper with the seeds removed for a mild sauce, or 3 or 4 for the full Sinaloa kick.
- You can blend the sauce up to 4 hours ahead and keep it in a covered jar in the fridge. Pour it over the shrimp no more than 30 minutes before serving, so they stay tender.
- Already cooked, peeled shrimp from the seafood counter works in a hurry: skip steps 1 to 4 and start with the sauce.
- Serve it the same day. Aguachile does not keep well as leftovers.
