Shrimp is one of our family's favorite seafood and this homespun dish requires a bit more preparation compared to the classic steamed white shrimp, locally known as suahe. While I am perfectly content with hinalabos na hipon, I serve this up during our special family dinners. Most of the restaurants serve up prawns or lobster thermidor, but I personally prefer suahe because its meat is juicier and more tender, and being smaller in size, the delicious flavors of the ingredients are soaked up better. Just writing about it makes me crave for it!
My #DomesticGoddess' take on the thermidor requires the following ingredients:
- 1 kg live or super fresh white shrimp
- 3 heads of chopped garlic
- 1/2 stick of soft butter
- 1/2 to 1 block of grated Quickmelt! Cheese
- 4 tbsps soy sauce
- 2 tbsps canola oil
- dash of salt & pepper
I purchase my suahe from my suki (preferred supplier) at the small wet market at the Dampa along Julia Vargas in Ortigas CBD. I always get it waaaaay below P400/kg compared to P500+ from the local supermarkets. The shrimp are almost always fresh that I never really have to devein it (by the way, the "vein" is the shrimp's digestive tract, and the black stuff isn't shrimp blood :P). Cut off the shrimp's legs, whiskers and beak (also called rostrum) and butterfly-cut the shrimp. I found that it's easier when I use kitchen scissors to start cutting where the head meets the shrimp's body, down to the tail. Once the shell is cut open, that's when I use a knife to butterfly the shrimp.
Place the chopped garlic in a bowl and add the softened butter (not melted, only softened at room temperature to make it workable), grated Quickmelt! Cheese, soy sauce, canola oil, and a dash of salt and pepper. Mix these ingredients evenly. You may add a few tablespoons of calamansi. You should be able to scoop it using a teaspoon, and place it in the butterflied suahe.
Pre-heat the oven at 170ºC for 5 minutes and cook for 10-15 minutes or until I can smell the fragrance of the garlic. Make sure the shrimp turns into a wonderful orange color, and it's ready to serve!
#DomesticGoddessMNL
