Basmati rice with shrimp

Perfect with a cold beer :)


Reserved shrimp

Pre-cooking the rice with olive oil and garlic


For this rice I followed the basic steps for paella. It should be enough for a dinner for 2. I didn't have azafran one of the key ingredients for paella, and I substituted the classic avanda rice for basmati, but I think this recipe worked very well.

Ingredients:

I used about 1/2 lb of shrimp, 1/2 cup of basmati rice, 3 cloves of garlic (or to taste,) about 2 teaspoons of pimenton (paprika),1 cup of shrimp broth, 1 table spoon of olive oil, one wedge of lime or lemon and salt and pepper to taste.

Process:

1. Peel the shrimp leaving the tails on (you can butterfly it if you like) and save the shells.
2. In a small pot put 1 1/2 cups of water the shrimp shells and 1 teaspoon of salt. Make the water boil for at least 5 min to make a broth.
3. meanwhile you are making the broth, mince the 3 cloves of garlic. In a 8in skillet heat the olive oil under medium-low fire. Add the garlic and bring down the fire to low
making sure to burn the garlic. Cook for about 1min.
4. Add the shrimp and cook for about 2 min and reserve, make sure to leave the garlic in the skillet. Squeeze the lemon wedge over the reserved shrimp ( It's OK to under cook the shrimp. You will add the shrimp back later)
5. Add the rice to the skillet and pre-cook i t with the garlic for 2 min under low fire. Meanwhile turn of the fire on the broth pot.
6. Add 1 cup of broth to the skillet with the rice and disperse the rice uniformly on the skillet. Let the rice cook undisturbed until the broth is gone. I f the rice is drying to fast bring the fire as low as possible and with a soup spoon add small quantities of broth or water as needed.
7. When the rice is close to be done, arrange the shrimp over the rice. You can use a slice of lemon/lime an parsley for garnish.
8. Cover the skillet until the rice is done and the shrimp fully cooked.