Mexican · meal

Shrimp a la diabla

Name: Shrimp a la diabla
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 1 lb Shrimp; 4 whole Dried árbol chiles; 2 whole Dried guajillo chiles; 2 whole Tomatoes; ¼ whole White onion; 3 cloves Garlic; 1 whole Lemon; 1 tbsp Olive oil; Salt and pepper (to taste)

Shrimp in a sauce of árbol and guajillo chiles, hot for real. Twenty minutes, and the skillet makes all the noise.

Serves

2 people

Amount

2 servings

Time

20 min

Steps

Why this one and not another

It's hot for real: it's for when you want the light meal to wake you up, not for guests with an uncertain palate. Twenty minutes, and the sauce can be left made hours ahead because the shrimp goes in for thirty seconds at the end.

Where it comes from

«A la diabla» is a seafood-joint name and it describes the heat, not a region: shrimp bathed in a red sauce of dried chiles, with white rice alongside to put it out. The two chiles don't do the same job. The guajillo is the one that colors it and gives it body, and the árbol —skinny, red and pure edge, with its own denomination of origin in Yahualica, Jalisco— is the one that earns the name. Here there's no rice to put anything out: the only brake is the lemon squeezed over the plate.

Raw chicken and raw vegetables, the same kitchen

Never the same board for raw meat and for what goes in the juicer. If you only have one, vegetables first and meat after. And don't wash the chicken: it splatters.

1Ingredients and how to prep them

Ingredient	Amount	How to prep it
Shrimp	1 lb	Peeled and deveined. Dry, with paper towel on both sides.
Dried árbol chiles	4 whole	Stems off. Take the seeds out if you don't want it to burn.
Dried guajillo chiles	2 whole	Stems and seeds off. This is the one that gives color and body, not heat.
Tomatoes	2 whole	Quartered, they go in the blender.
White onion	¼ whole	In a chunk, into the blender.
Garlic	3 cloves	Peeled and whole, they go in the blender.
Lemon	1 whole	Cut, to squeeze at the table.
Olive oil	1 tbsp	—
Salt and pepper	to taste	—

Shrimp1 lb
Peeled and deveined. Dry, with paper towel on both sides.
Dried árbol chiles4 whole
Stems off. Take the seeds out if you don't want it to burn.
Dried guajillo chiles2 whole
Stems and seeds off. This is the one that gives color and body, not heat.
Tomatoes2 whole
Quartered, they go in the blender.
White onion¼ whole
In a chunk, into the blender.
Garlic3 cloves
Peeled and whole, they go in the blender.
Lemon1 whole
Cut, to squeeze at the table.
Olive oil1 tbsp
—
Salt and pepperto taste
—

2Steps

In this order. The box on each step is the specific pitfall: what goes wrong there and why.

1
Soak the dried chiles
5 min
Guajillos and árbol chiles in a bowl of very hot water, covered, until they bend without breaking.
Heads up
Hot water in a bowl, not boiling on the stove. Chiles that boil go bitter, and that bitterness never comes back out of the sauce.
2
Blend the sauce and strain it
3 min
Drained chiles, tomato, onion and garlic with a little of the soaking water. Blend it fine and pass it through a strainer.
Heads up
Taste the soaking water before you use it: if it tastes bitter, throw it out and blend with clean water. That's where the bitterness of the chiles goes.
3
Fry the sauce
5 min
Hot oil, pour the strained sauce in all at once and let it thicken over medium heat.
Heads up
Frying the sauce isn't a whim: blended chile raw tastes like dust. It's ready when it darkens and leaves a trail as you drag the spoon along the bottom.
4
Sear the shrimp separately
3 min
Hot skillet, dry shrimp with salt and pepper, in a single layer. One minute a side.
Heads up
Don't crowd them. Shrimp piled on shrimp gives off water and boils instead of searing; do it in two batches if it doesn't fit.
5
Bring them together for thirty seconds
2 min
Lower the heat, drop the shrimp into the sauce and stir just to coat it.
Heads up
Shrimp goes over in thirty seconds. The moment it curls into a C it's there; if it closes into an O, it's gone too far.
6
Lemon at the table
1 min
A squeeze of lemon over it on the plate. The acid opens up the heat and makes it edible.

3If something goes wrong

What happens	Why	What to do
It's hot, but bitter	The chiles boiled, or you used the soaking water without tasting it.	Soak them in hot water off the heat and blend with clean water if the soaking water tastes bitter.
The shrimp came out rubbery	It cooked twice: once when you seared it and again inside the sauce.	One minute a side to sear, and put it together with the sauce over low heat already, thirty seconds.
The sauce came out thin	You didn't fry it long enough.	Leave it over medium heat until it pulls away from the bottom, and don't put the shrimp in until then.

It's hot, but bitter
Why: The chiles boiled, or you used the soaking water without tasting it.
What to do: Soak them in hot water off the heat and blend with clean water if the soaking water tastes bitter.
The shrimp came out rubbery
Why: It cooked twice: once when you seared it and again inside the sauce.
What to do: One minute a side to sear, and put it together with the sauce over low heat already, thirty seconds.
The sauce came out thin
Why: You didn't fry it long enough.
What to do: Leave it over medium heat until it pulls away from the bottom, and don't put the shrimp in until then.

This recipe is one of the meals in the plan

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Why this one and not another

Where it comes from

▲Raw chicken and raw vegetables, the same kitchen

1Ingredients and how to prep them

2Steps

Soak the dried chiles

Blend the sauce and strain it

Fry the sauce

Sear the shrimp separately

Bring them together for thirty seconds

Lemon at the table

3If something goes wrong

This recipe is one of the meals in the plan

Raw chicken and raw vegetables, the same kitchen