Large mixing bowl Grill
1 lb shrimp, peeled salt black pepper 2 med-lg tomatoes, seeded and diced 1 med-lg red onion, diced small 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped 2 tsp cumin 2 tsp coriander 1/4 tsp adobo sauce 1 tsp olive oil 1/4 cup lime juice salt black pepper
The adobo sauce is the stuff found in cans of “chipotles en adobo”; the original recipe called for Tabasco sauce but to me that’s the wrong flavor. If you don’t have adobo, use whatever hot sauce you like, but one with a smoky flavor works best.
Except for the shrimp, all quantities are very rough approximations. The size of tomatoes and onions varies so much, the bitterness of lime juice can be anything from subtle to pronounced, and your tolerance for heat may be quite different from mine; given all of that, it’s impossible for me to tell you how much of each ingredient to use – but here are some guidelines:
- by volume, there should be a bit less tomato than shrimp;
- by volume, there should be anywhere from three to five times times as much tomato as red onion;
- the olive oil should not be noticeable in the salsa, except as a subtle flavor;
- 1/4 teaspoon of adobo sauce yields a very mild salsa, but that’s how much I start with because my wife has almost no tolerance for hot (picanté) food;
- if I were making this for myself I’d probably start with a full teaspoon of adobo sauce (and possibly add more), but remember, you don’t want to mask the somewhat-delicate flavor of the shrimp;
Difficulty: Very easy.Time: 30 minutes.
Precision: 1.
Adapted from Big Flavors of the Hot Sun, by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby.
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