Shrimp Cooked in Lime Juice
- About ½ cup fresh lime juice (3 or 4 limes)
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon nam pla (Thai
- fish sauce), or salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as canola or grapeseed
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 1½ pounds peeled shrimp (deveined if you like), or 3 pounds head-on shrimp, left unpeeled
- Minced cilantro
Instructions:
This is a Southeast Asian-style preparation, mildly sweet and mouth-puckeringly sour.
- Combine the lime juice, sugar, and nam pla in a small bowl. Pour the oil into a 10- or 12-inch skillet, turn the heat to high, and heat for a minute. Add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook just until the garlic begins to brown about 5 minutes. Immediately add the lime juice mixture all at once and cook until it reduces by half, or even more, 3 to 5 minutes; there should be only about ¼ cup liquid in the skillet, and it should be syrupy.
- Add the shrimp and cook, still over high heat. The shrimp will give off liquid of their own and begin to turn pink almost immediately. After about 2 minutes of cooking, stir. Continue cooking and stirring occasionally until all the shrimp are pink, about 2 more minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then garnish with cilantro.