Mama Canales Garcias Avacado Shrimp Salsa

By sidecars

Ingredients

• Makes about 6 cups salsa
• 1 pound small shrimp, shelled and deveined or pre-cooked and defrosted
• 2 firm-ripe avocados, halved, scored into a small dice
• 2 cups grape tomatoes, quartered or 2 cups chopped tomatoes, drained a little
• 1/2 small white onion, very finely chopped (use red if you can’t find white)
• 1 small jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped (optional)
• Drizzle of olive oil
• Juice of 1 to 2 limes
• Salt
• Handful cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
• Hot sauce, on the side
• Tortilla chips, to serve

Details

Servings 6
Adapted from smittenkitchen.com

Preparation

Step 1

Makes about 6 cups salsa

Bring salted water* to a boil and turn off heat. Add shrimp, cover pot and let stand until firm and pink, about 5 to 7 minutes. Drain shrimp, pat dry and chill.

Make salsa:

Chop shrimp into small bites and put in medium bowl. Scoop avocados into bowl. Add tomatoes, white onion, jalapeño (if using, to taste) and a drizzle of olive oil. Add the juice of one lime, and a second one, if needed. Add salt to taste, then cilantro. Serve with tortilla chips.

* If you have more time, you can first make a shrimp stock with about 3 cups water, 1 cup beer or wine, the reserved shrimp shells, additional lime juice or the peels from the lime juice you’ll use in the salad and some peppercorns or red pepper flakes. Boil these together for 20 minutes, then strain the mixture. Cook the shrimp in this stock instead.

This looks delicious, perfect for the summertime heat we’re having!

This looks amazing and I may use it for a Luau potluck I’ve been invited to, but my big question is do you have Danny’s tomatillo salsa recipe? I’ve been searching for a good one because I’m addicted to (don’t judge me) Chipotle’s tomatillo salsa and want to make any salsa with tomatillos.

I don’t know how you survive New York summers – I think the heat is more oppressive there than anywhere else! This salsa looks just perfect.

Tammy — To live in California. :) Seriously, I never get it right. I waited too long to make this and now have 5 avocados in the fridge about to become guac.

Guacamole — I’m probably opening a can of worms here, but is anyone else wildly opposed to garlic in their guacamole? I’m just curious. And also probably stirring the pot. It just tastes wrong, wrong, wrong to me.

Yum this looks so perfectly summery! I’ll probably add an extra jalapeño for extra heat :)

Belinda — Our avocado stayed green. But, if you’re nervous, you can first toss it with the first half-lime’s worth of juice to make sure it is fully coated, then add it to the salad.

This article makes me want to go to my spot in Westport, WA, catch some lingcod, make about a half-gallon of ceviche, and eat it all in one sitting. Or just buy some shrimp. Either way.

Deb, not much of a fan of minced garlic in guac either, but I like a little mashed into a paste then blended throughout. Either way, it should be eaten that day imo.

JP — I’m quite particular about onion varieties in dishes, so it may not bother you, but I only like yellow onions for cooking with heat.

It is fortuitous that you posted this now, I just had a shrimp salad from Whole Foods at a pot luck this weekend. It was delicious, but pretty expensive considering the ingredients. I’m excited to make it on my own! Thanks!

I grew up in a very Mexico-influenced part of the country (Arizona), about thirty miles from the border. Garlic in guacamole is strange to me. I like it best with nothing more than salt and lime added to those delicious avocados, but it’s one of those things that is highly customizable and some people seem to like it more as a salsa/guacamole combination with all those chunky things they put in it.

As for guacamole, every time I watch Ina make guacamole I get irrationally irritated. She always insists avocados have no flavor (an opinion I very strongly disagree with) and she adds garlic. Maybe it’s my SoCal upbringing, but I think guacamole should be avocados, salt, lime, jalapeno, and cilantro…if that. Usually when I say I want guacamole, I mean mashed avocado and salt.

My favorite guacamole recipe is Roberto Santibañez’ Classic Guacamole – I assume you mentioned it here at some point, because I have spent the past year addicted to every recipe mentioned on your amazing blog. Here is one link. Absolutely the world’s best guac. And no, it does not have garlic in it.

I was fortunate to meet Danny’s mother back in 2009. Sweet lady who taught her son very well! This is one of the fabulous Garcia dishes. But what’s even better s when you mix Garcia experimentation with tried and true Smit Kitch recipes and-voila!- a fabulous new beast. Brisket tacos, I’m talking about you!

@Alexis: OMG the tacos Danny makes out of Deb’s brisket are to DIE for. He even pickles the onion. My mouth is watering right now!

I saw shrimp and I saw avocado and was immediately so down to make this recipe.

Hi Deb, I agree re: garlic being too much in guacamole. I found the ideal onion-ey flavour comes from using a shallot. That’s straight out of Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything and the first time I made it, I realized that’s exactly how to make guacamole taste like guacamole.

I’m totally biased, as Mama Canales-Garcia is my Tia, but this is the best salsa ever. If you ever get a chance, you should ask Mama Canales-Garcia to make posole for you! She is so attentive to detail and the end result is a delicate broth with melt-in-your-mouth-hominy. Don’t get me started on her tamales! Hopefully, Danny will throw down this Christmas.

When I make guacamole, it has avocado, lime juice, and salt. I agree on the no tomato thing, but I don’t mind garlic.

I’m thinking of leaving the shrimp whole, and serving over a lettuce mix for a dinner salad. with chips on the side!

I remember when Trader Joe’s sold the frozen avocados. I don’t like garlic in my guacamole and like #34 Robin, like guacamole with only avocado, lime juice and salt, though I will add other ingredients (depends on who else will be eating it).

I’m half Nicaraguan, on my mother’s side. My maternal grandmother makes pico de gallo first (tomatoes, white onion, serrano chile, lime or lemon juice, salt, and white pepper) in order to make her guacamole. Garlic and cilantro are optional in the pico; sometimes she uses them and sometimes she doesn’t. Then you mash the avocados, and add the pico and salt and pepper to taste. Sometimes I add more lime or lemon juice as well. I make extra pico so that I can enjoy it for the rest of the week, or however long it lasts. It’s absolutely delicious with scrambled eggs!

I’m neutral on the guac situation re: garlic–usually add a clove minced very finely, but that’s because I believe garlic can go in everything. Cilantro is also optional. Used to be a red-onion aficionado and have since switched to white; I think it has a slightly cleaner flavor.

I had everything, except cilantro, and so this was lunch today! Amazing! I used red onion and have found that if I let it pre-marinate in the lime juice for 5-10 minutes before mixing it, it’s a bit more mild and perfect for my fickle, heartburn-prone, pregnant belly. That was just about the time it took me to chop everything else up and YUM. I did opt to add the avocado right before eating rather than risking it getting brown though, but I’m going to eat this for lunch for the next few days too. If I was planning on serving it all at once, I wouldn’t have done that.

I’m with Megan on guac – I always first make pico de gallo by mashing the ingredients one at a time with a mortar and pestle and then mix some into the mashed avocados. If you remove the middle part of the garlic (like I read about in Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table), the taste is a lot less…assertive. I use 1 garlic clove (sans middle) per pico recipe and just a few spoonfuls of pico per avocado. So there’s not a lot in there, anyway.

I am not handling the NYC heat very well myself this summer! This recipe looks so refreshing – can’t wait to try it.

I don’t have room for a molcajete in my kitchen so I just chop everything but the avocado into a fine paste on my cutting board then mix it with the avocado in a bowl. Ever since I’ve learned this technique we have become the guac suppliers for parties.

I learned to make guacamole when I lived in Cuernavaca. No garlic! These days I put the following in my guac: diced avocado, lime juice, a tiny bit of finely minced onion, ground cumin, salt……and boatloads of cilantro.

This recipe looks refreshing and perfect for summer!! I love everything about the salad except for the boiled shrimp, ina garten has a great recipe for roasted shrimp. S much more flavor. Always make shrimp this way and its delish. Can’t wait to try it in salad

I made an avocado salsa just a few days ago but missed out on the shrimp! Not I have to make it up to myself and make this.

Such a refreshing and healthy summer recipe! You’ve combined some of my favorite ingredients in one dish: tomatoes, avocado and shrimps! How is it that I’ve never thought about combining them all together myself?! Good job Mama Canales Garcias :)

Re: guac – I make it with Haas avocados only and lime, sometime a bit of minced garlic, salt and lots of cilantro. Son likes minced scallion in it. Daughter likes a bit of heat so a bit of minced jalapeño. More often than not I make why we call “mash”. You can probably guess at the idea. Mash up an avocado, add salt and pepper. Eat. DH stared calling avocados guacamoles when we were first married because that’s all he thought you could do with them. Silly boy.

I make something very similar, but I add mangoes, sweet corn, and red peppers (and sometimes black beans), which makes it even more colourful and a legitimate full meal. Another good thing to do is to mix the shrimp, lime juice, salt and cilantro ahead of time and let it sit for a few hours or overnight – so much flavour!

Well, I can taste this in my head without it even passing over my lips. It tastes like summer. I would suggest that, since you’re already using lime in this dish, to combine uncooked prawn and scallops in the lime juice for several hours as a cebeche, before combining with the fresh ingredients. I love cebeche having eaten my weight equivilent during a trip along coastal Peru. Either way, this will be a keeper in my summer quick dish list.

I live in Mexico on the coast so it’s always summer and I love it! I always use garlic, tomato and cilantro in my guacamole and cholula. Never thought about making it a main course by adding shrimp. Since we can get it fresh nearby I will try this for sure.

This looks amazing! As far as guac, I’d have to say I’m a purist. Haas avocados, for the creamy, buttery texture, finely chopped white or sweet onion, not too much tho, finely chopped jalapenos, a sprinke of sea salt, lime (or lemon) juice and cilantro. No garlic, not ever! I live in the DC area, and the best guacamole I ever had was at Jose Andres’ Cafe Atlantico. It’s made table-side in a big molecajete and you can’t even imagine how yummy. I’m also a huge fan of tomatillo salsa, which is so danged easy to make. I usually have some in the fridge at any point in time. 1lb. of tomatillos roughly chopped, a quarter of a medium onion roughly chopped, 1 small jalapeno, a quarter cup of cider vinegar (so it keeps longer) couple ofminced garlic cloves, juice of half a lime, and a small handfful of cilantro. Whir it up in a food processor (or blender), add salt and pepper to taste. Viola! I put it on everything from meat to seafood and even scrambled eggs.

I know they make vegan shrimp now, but for some reason the idea of even trying it frightens me.

Try adding or subbing quickly poached and quartered tiny bay scallops, they really take on flavors well.

I make one time a similar salad, now i want try yours, 15 minutes and I will see how good that is! Thanks for that recipe, also you have always have this good photos, looks very professional!

Just to add my two bits, no garlic in guac, but besides the avocados and lemon/lime juice and salt we sometimes add…do not go into shock here…a spoonful of sour cream. You would be surprised as I was how it smooths things out and what flavor! Yum! Only Hass avocados, of course, as mentioned above (no other sort are worth it as far as my taste buds are concerned).

I, too, am a summertime grouch here in NYC, but this recipe sounds like the perfect way to turn my mood around! It’s so colorful and the spiciness should help with cooling off. I’d love to make this and add sweet yellow corn & basil, I can never have too many herbs!

I agree with Maria. Definitely looks like Coctel de Camarones or a Campechana without the “cocktail” sauce. Looks delicious and very portable for a barbecue. There is a salad almost identical to this one-from the region of Jalisco, Mexico that does not contain shrimp, but hold on to your shorts, includes pork skins, yes pork skins! Perhaps your friend’s mom is from Jalisco? I make this salad as often as I can. Or at least as often as I can hide pork skins from my husband long enough to make it into this salad. People always knock this salad until they try it. As a Texican, I can most definitely agree with you that garlic has no place in my guacamole!

NEED TO MAKE IT TONIGHT!!!!

Living outside the USA means no Tapatio here…any suggestions for an alternative that I can make myself?

I don’t like raw garlic (or onion) in my guacamole, but –brace yourself– I do like a tiny bit of garlic powder in it. It adds a little zing but without that strong garlicky business. I don’t like tomatoes in it either. The only chunks should be the avocado that didn’t get smooshed.

I like mine with GIANT chunks of tomato and onion and heavy on the cilantro. I love to smear avocado with salt on bread, crackers, eggs, beans, etc. but I don’t consider this guac unless it contains tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, lime, and cilantro. I don’t put garlic in my guacamole, but I do think avocado and garlic work well together. I like to make a dip with avocado, Greek yogurt, garlic, and lime – combined until super smooth. It’s delicious – but again I don’t consider this guacamole.

I studied abroad in Brazil and learned that Brazilians use avocados in smoothies and milkshakes and rarely/never use them in savory dishes. My host family was grossed out when I told them I like to add onions and tomatoes and salt!

I love avocado and lime, the shrimp just adds a better possibility of great tastes. I noticed at one point on this date you made Peach and Creme Fraiche Pie, which also sounds delicious. I’ll be checking it out asap :)

I make this but I add a cup or so of Clamato juice… but don’t by that brand… the store brand is exactly the same but much cheaper. I also add diced cucumber and some kosher salt… mmmmmm!!! =) Thanks for reminding me about this delicacy… must… make… now…

perfect! I need to make that this weekend…

This was DELICIOUS. We swapped out green onions and added corn and black beans…I cannot wait to have it again. Thanks for another winner!

It is stinking hot here yesterday, today, tomorrow….. of all places – Zürich! This is exactly what my palate is craving….. citrus, cilantro, tomatoes, more HEAT! How can anyone be wrong with Tapatio!? Thanks for sharing this recipe.

My guests LOVED it, and I did, too — so much so that I plan to make it again for a different set of guests tonight!