Shrimp Tacos with Pineapple Salsa and Spicy Crema

Tacos are perhaps the most fun way to make easy and delicious dinner for warm weather months!  Every time I make them I just love the various fresh and colorful ingredients. Food that is pretty always tastes better, right?

Shrimp tacos are amazing. Summery, light, healthy, and packed with flavor. Best part is you can get this on you dinner table in less than 30 minutes. Simply grill the shrimps, put it on corn tortillas with your choice of toppings and some creamy sauce and you’re done. Yes! It is as simple as that.

I just made Shrimp tacos on Canada day I thought I’d update my old recipe, include new photos, and re-post it. We enjoyed shrimp tacos with slightly spicy crema, pineapple salsa, and store bought vegetable salad. Occasionally, I might add some shredded cheddar cheese while heating corn tortillas, but they taste delicious even without it. You just need something creamy to marry all of the flavors together.

This image was taken for a different dinner

SOME TIPS FOR THIS RECIPE

Begin by making the spicy crema which is basically sour cream and taquera sauce. Taquera sauce is a tomato based salsa made with with dried cascabel chiles, tomatillos, tomato, garlic, cumin and salt.If you can not find this, you can add regular salsa and add some spicy sauce.

Then chop ingredients for pineapple salsa. If you like less heat, remove some of the seeds and rib of jalapeno.

Grilling shrimps

I like using jumbo sized shrimps (16-20 per lb) for easier grilling but you can use whatever kind of shrimp you like or can easily get your hands on. I bought peeled, de-veined, skewered shrimps from Costco which saved me some time but they are not hard to thread. If you’re using wooden skewers, be sure to soak them for at least 20 minutes (or up to 4 hours) so they don’t char when they hit the hot grill. Shrimp cooks very quickly so watch it closely. Jumbo shrimp will take approximately 2 to 3 minutes to cook per side. When shrimps are cooked they curl into a nice “C” shape.

I marinated the shrimps with cilantro, lime, garlic, cumin, salt and jalapeno. It was absolutely delicious if I can say so myself.

Oh, and these shrimps are perfect on a bed of salad or on top of fried rice.

Warming corn tortillas

Gluten free Corn tortillas come in white and yellow variety. I love the texture of  white corn tortillas, they are thin and super soft but hard to find sometimes. My previous post was done with white corn tortillas which I got from an Indian store but now they have stopped carrying. Yellow corn tortillas are significantly thicker than the white ones. They aren’t as pliable however works fine in tacos. There are a number of ways to warm corn tortillas.

1. The quickest way is to wrap corn tortillas (about 4-5) in damp paper towels and microwave for 30 sec to 1 minute. This method produces moist corn tortillas but does not work as well with gluten containing tortillas.

1. Heat a cast iron or  a thick bottom pan over a medium heat. Brush corn tortilla with oil and place in the pan. As soon as it gets light brown spots on one side, give it a quick flip to get some color on the other side too. This is my preferred method but you can also heat them in skillet without any oil.
2. Wrap up a few (about 5) corn tortillas in a damp paper towel and then overwrap the stack with  aluminum foil.  Bake at 325F until warmed through, or about 10 minutes. This method work out best when you are heating tortillas for a crowd, heat all of them in the oven at the same time wrapping two or three small stacks in one foil.
3. Corn tortillas can be heated very quickly over an open flame. Wet corn tortilla with water and roast over open flame. This gives them a slightly crisp exterior and a hint of char. But you have to pay attention or you will have burnt and stiff tortilla. Repeat this process for each additional tortilla that you need to heat.

Corn tortillas dry out and stiffen quickly so whichever above method you use wrap the heated tortillas in a kitchen towel and then in foil and keep covered in a chapati box or a tortilla warmer. This will keep them warm for a good long time. If you don’t have a chapati box or a tortilla warmer, you can place the towel-wrapped stack into a slightly larger bowl, then cover it with a plate.

Give these easy shrimp tacos a try and I guarantee your family will love them!