INGREDIENTS
1 pound medium shrimp, raw or cooked
Salt
1 cup chopped red onion
1 cup peeled, diced cucumber
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 jalapeno, minced
1 15-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, chopped OR 1 1/2 cups of freshly chopped tomatoes with their juices
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Juice of a lime, about 2 Tbsp
Hot sauce to taste
1 avocado, cut into chunks
INSTRUCTIONS
1 Peel, devein, and cook raw shrimp: If you have pre-cooked, peeled and deveined shrimp you can skip to the next step.
If you want to skip that step, just bring a medium pot salted water to a boil (a Tbsp salt for 2 quarts of water), add the shrimp, and cook for 2-3 minutes, until just cooked through. Reserve a cup of the cooking water and chill it.
2 Cut half of the cooked shrimp into chunks: Cut half of the shrimp into large chunks, leaving the other half whole (for a more attractive presentation).
3 Toss with other ingredients, chill: Put the chopped shrimp in a bowl with the chopped onions, cucumber, celery, jalapeño, tomatoes, ketchup, cilantro, lime juice and hot sauce. Gently stir to combine, and chill.
4 Add some cooled shrimp cooking water: Once the cooking water has cooled at least to room temperature, add a little at a time to the shrimp cocktail, until the shrimp cocktail is the consistency you want (use clam stock or lightly salted water—a third of a teaspoon
of salt dissolved into a cup of water—if you are starting with already cooked and peeled shrimp).
5 Stir in salt, hot sauce, avocado: To serve, add salt and more hot sauce to taste and gently mix in the chopped avocados. Dip the whole shrimp in the cocktail and arrange them on top.
Serve in parfait glasses or in small bowls with tortilla chips on the side.
English