Grilled Marinated Shrimp Skewers

Mis en Place

• 4 lbs. headless shrimp (sized 41-50)
• 1/2 cup rice wine
• 1/2 cup coconut vinegar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup banana sauce
• 2 cups olive oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon of onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons black pepper

Preparation

Step 1: Peel and Marinade

Free the shrimp from its shell and tail and put into a bowl. IMPORTANT: Don't throw the shells and tails away! You can save them to make a nice shrimp broth, that I will add to our mussel soup later. Once you're done peeling your shrimp, whisk rice wine, coconut vinegar, soy sauce, banana sauce, olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper together in a separate bowl. Pour the marinade into the bowl containing your shrimp, massaging through the bowl to make sure all shrimp get completely covered, and let it marinade in the fridge for about an hour.

 

Step 2: Skew
Once your shrimp has absorbed all the flavor goodness of the marinade, you can start to skewer! I like to stay consistent with poking the skewer through the shrimp from the bottom of its tail all the way to the top, so that they look uniform when it comes to plating and presentation. On a large skewer, you can fit about 5 shrimp. Continue this process until all your shrimp are gone. You can even pour your marinade back over the skewers when you've got them laid out for extra marinade-time while you grill.

Step 3: Grill and Serve!
Now it's time to throw the shrimp on the barbie! (I've heard that from Australians... thought I'd try it. Doesn't quite fit me being that I'm Mexican-American and cooking with Filipinos right now!) Like the oysters and mussels (and most seafood for that matter) it won't take long for the shrimp to be done. As long as they get that bright orange color and a nice grill mark on them, they're ready. This should be approximately 5 minutes or less on each side (assuming you've got a high flame). What's nice about grilling is that people hardly ever wait for anything to be plated... they can take it straight off the grill, dip into some sweet chili sauce, and voila!