Wanna’ be a hit in your next gathering? Try this easy Cajun shrimp dish and pair it with its very own Cajun rice. The simple word to describe it is just yum.
With some shrimps, rice, a couple of spices and a good bottle of white wine, you can serve this restaurant-quality meal to your family and friends. As far as my palate is concerned, this aromatic recipe is very much comparable to the Cajun dishes served at Friday’s and Chilli’s. Yumm!! In terms of cooking time, it doesn't take much. Cooking the shrimps takes just a few minutes in the pan. The short grain rice cooks relatively quick, as well. Say, about 20 minutes give or take some 5 ones. It's an easy recipe that I am absolutely recommending to the homemakers who love easy dishes, flavourful spices and the hot stuff. You can also do this dish with chicken. Let's talk about that in a separate post.
Cajun spice is a combination of various herbs and spices. There’s paprika, cumin, garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, dried thyme and oregano. Fortunately, you don’t have to buy packs of these spices to cook Cajun shrimp and rice. We used store-bought Cajun mix for this recipe and it works just fine. It makes life so much easier.
Here’s the recipe on how we cook Cajun shrimps and rice at home.
Ingredients:
Cajun Shrimps
- Shrimps, ½ kilo, deveined
- Cajun seasoning, 2 tsp
- Olive oil, 1 tbsp
- Garlic, 2 tsp, minced
- Butter, 2 tbsp
- White wine, 1/3 cup (We used Muscato)
- Lemon juice, 1 tbsp
- Lemon zest
- Salt, 1 tsp
- Freshly ground pepper, 1 tsp
- Parsley, chopped
Cajun Rice
- Chicken stock, 1 litre (5 cups)
- Short grain rice, 2 cups
- Onions, 1 cup, chopped
- Celery, ½ cup, chopped
- Bell pepper, ½ cup, chopped
- Dried basil, 1 ½ tsp
- Sweet paprika, ½ tsp
- Ground chili (or cayenne pepper), ½ tsp
- Dried oregano, 1 tsp
- Garlic, 4 cloves, minced
- Butter, at least 80-100 grams (add more for flavours, if preferred)
- Salt, 1 tsp
- Freshly ground pepper, 1 tsp
Directions:
1. In a medium heat sauce pan (or pot), sauté butter, onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the remaining spices and sauté for another 2-3 minutes.
3. Add rice.
4. Sauté until the rice is slightly brown and had mixed well with the spices.
5. Add the chicken stock. Start with 4 cups of stock into the dish. Some rice requires less liquid to properly cook. Add more, as needed.
6. Stir the rice occasionally for 15-20 minutes. You will know it is cooked once the rice is a bit fluffy.
7. Season the shrimp with Cajun seasoning, salt and pepper in a deep bowl.
8. In a separate pan, add the olive oil in a medium heat.
9. Add shrimp and wait for it to be slightly orange (roughly 2-3 minutes). Don’t let it fully cooked. Remove from the pan and set aside.
10. Using the same pan, sauté the garlic to make it fragrant.
11. Melt the butter in the heated pan.
12. Add white wine, lemon juice and zest. Let it simmer to allow the alcohol to evaporate.
13. Wait for the sauce to thicken a little.
14. Add in the shrimps and let it soaked in the sauce for about 30-45 seconds.
15. Turn off the stove.
16. Serve the shrimp on top of the Cajun rice with some chopped parsley.
Done and done!! Enjoy!!
