3 easy ways to cook frozen shrimp

To learn how to properly boil shrimp, it is not enough to read the instructions on the back of the package. There are many secrets that will help maintain the tenderness and softness of dietary white meat. Separate recipes are suitable for those wishing to cook sushi or salad from seafood. The cooking method depends on the type of seafood purchased and on the type of processing before freezing.

There are more than 2000 different types of shrimp, but 2 main groups can be distinguished:

• warm-blooded (large, live in the warm seas of Thailand, Indonesia and South Asia);
• cold-blooded (they are small in size, live in the cold waters of the seas of Denmark, Norway and Estonia).

Small shrimp do not sell frozen. They are boiled immediately after fishing, adding spices and dill. This beer appetizer is often sold on the Black Sea coast. The meat in the tail is soft and tender, but you can’t prepare a salad with such crustaceans, it’s too difficult and long to clean. For lovers of exotic seafood, there are only two options: either fly on vacation to Thailand, where huge tiger shrimps cost a penny, or buy frozen seafood in the supermarket of your city.

How to choose frozen shrimp?

The high price of the product does not always guarantee excellent quality. In order not to waste money by buying spoiled goods, you need to be able to independently determine the quality of seafood. The first step in choosing them is to study the packaging. Remember, in European countries, unlike Asian countries, strict quality control of products, so the risk of buying low-quality food is minimal.

Frozen seafood should have the same shape. The shell can be light pink or have a grayish tint. It depends on pre-heat treatment: pink shrimps were boiled before freezing, and gray shrimps were frozen raw. Spots or darkening indicate the freshness of seafood, but a green head is not a reason for worries. This means that the animal fed on certain algae. Black head color is a sign of illness (it is better to throw it away right away), and the head of pregnant individuals acquires brown color (their meat is especially useful).

Tip

Throw away shrimp with a black head: such an animal is infected.

There should be no excess ice or snow lumps in the bag or package. This suggests that during transportation the product thawed and froze again. In this case, the meat can become tough and tasteless or even go bad. In small species, the tail should be twisted (this is an indicator of freshness), and large individuals can have a straight sticking tail. The freshness of the shrimp in the shell is much easier to calculate than peeled. The meat should not have darkening and spots.

How to cook frozen shrimp?

There are many ways to cook shrimp. It depends on the type of crustacean and on the intended dish. To prepare a salad, seafood is often boiled in a specially seasoned solution or fried in a pan. Before cooking, specify whether they are raw or pre-cooked. In appearance, the differences are significant: boiled shrimp - pink, raw - gray. We will talk about three ways to cook marine delicacy.

Method number 1

The easiest and fastest option is to get a delicious ready-made delicacy. It is suitable exclusively for the preparation of ready-made frozen seafood.

You will need:

• colander;
• water.

Bring the water to a boil.Place frozen seafood in a colander and pour boiling water over the sink to remove ice coating. Divide a large portion into two parts. In appearance, the crustaceans will become ready to eat, but inside they will remain hard and cold. They need to be placed in a pan and top it with steep boiling water for no more than 30 seconds. After draining the water, put the seafood on a large flat dish, squeeze the juice of half a lemon on top. You can peel and add ponytails to the Mediterranean salad.

Method number 2

This method cannot be called complicated, but the prepared seafood has a more saturated aroma and taste. Such shrimp can be added to fresh sea salad, or can be served as a separate dish with tartar sauce.

For cooking you will need:

• pan;
• water;
• Bay leaf;
• dried clove buds;
• black pepper;
• lemon.

Water needs twice as much as seafood. Pour them with water and put the pan on a slow fire. Do not add spices until bubbles appear on the surface of the water. When the water begins to slowly boil, cut half the lemon and squeeze the juice into a saucepan. Following the juice, add 2 buds of dried cloves, 2 bay leaves and a couple of peppercorns to the pan. To enhance the spicy taste, you can add a small slice of raw ginger or a whole clove of garlic to the water. Food lovers recommend this recipe.

Cooking time depends on the type of product. Pink - boiled in advance - shrimp need to bring to a boil, quickly add seasonings, turn off the gas, cover the pan with a lid and leave in water for 2 minutes. Raw meat must be boiled. After boiling water and adding spices, the fire should be reduced as much as possible, and cover the pan with a lid. Raw frozen prawns are unsalted, so salt must be added to taste. Boil them for 5 to 7 minutes, gently stirring with a spoon. After the specified time, put it on a dish, squeeze the juice of the second half of the lemon on top and grease it with olive oil. Spicy shrimp can be added to seafood salad.

Method number 3

For a friendly evening with “beer and fish” we recommend the most unusual and at first glance strange way of cooking shrimp. To add to the salad, such shrimp will definitely not work.

For this you need:

• pan;
• 2 liters of light beer;
• lemon;
• parsley;
• garlic.

We pour the foamy drink into the pan and put it on a small fire. Half a bunch of parsley and 2 cloves of garlic should be finely chopped, and the lemon cut in half. When the beer begins to boil, add fresh herbs and garlic into it and squeeze out half the citrus juice. After adding seasonings, add frozen seafood and boil. Pink shrimp should be boiled for no more than a minute, and raw 7 minutes, salted with beer.

Boiled shrimp salad

If you want to diversify the familiar menu and arrange a holiday for your loved ones, prepare a seafood salad with shrimp tails.

Ingredients:

• 250 g of peeled tails;
• 3 tomatoes;
• 2 cucumbers;
• 4 feathers of green onions;
• 1 tsp salts;
• 2 tbsp. l olive oil;
• 1 tbsp. l vinegar
• 1 tsp Sahara.

Cut the cucumbers into circles, and the tomatoes into semicircles. Finely chop the onion. Mix greens with vegetables, season with salt, vinegar and sugar. Salad must be served on a large round dish. Put peeled tails in the middle, pour them with olive oil. Seafood overlay with fresh vegetables. Salad will win the hearts of your household for a long time.