Independent Restaurants > Cooking Videos > Aguachiles
Cooking Video: Authentic Mexican AguachilesTweetWe didn't cook the shrimp, per se, but we didn't eat them raw, either. We didn't make shrimp ceviche, either, really - we made authentic, Mexican Aguachiles. Aguachiles is a shrimp dish, much like ceviche, except you keep the shrimp whole (a lot of people chop up the shrimp into smaller chunks when making ceviche). The similarity between Aguachiles and Shrimp Ceviche would be that the shrimp is cooked without any heat.
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"Aguachiles" is a traditional Mexican shrimp dish where the shrimp are cooked without heat, using only the juice from lemons to cook the shrimp completely through. Muy delicioso!
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Cooking without heat seems counter-intuitive, but Aguachiles may be the best thing you'll ever eat. Certainly one of the freshest. Instead of cooking the shrimp, you butterfly them open, then marinate them in freshly-squeezed lemon juice. In the lemon juice, you would also add in chopped chiles do arbol (those little, skinny, dried peppers you buy in bulk at the super market for next to nothing), diced onion, garlic, cilantro, salt and pepper and whatever else you want to put in there. As it turns out, just like ceviche, the acid in the lemon juice actually cooks the shrimp completely through without having to use any heat. As an added bonus, it leaves a great, fresh taste behind.
After letting the shrimp marinate for about 10-15 minutes, you just pull them out of the marinade and they go straight onto the plate, fully cooked through. At El Dorado Mexican Restaurant in downtown Oxnard, CA, they serve them up with locally-grown, sliced avocados, tomatoes and onions, then they top it with a bit of cooling cilantro.
Personally, I had never had this dish before visiting my new amigos at El Dorado, but since they had me try it, I've been back several times... and guess what I order? You got it. My new favorite shrimp dish: Aguachiles. I've even made it at home several times since. It's such a simple recipe, even I didn't screw it up. Not to say it's as good as the guys make it at El Dorado, of course, but it's one of the best shrimp dishes you'll ever eat.
After letting the shrimp marinate for about 10-15 minutes, you just pull them out of the marinade and they go straight onto the plate, fully cooked through. At El Dorado Mexican Restaurant in downtown Oxnard, CA, they serve them up with locally-grown, sliced avocados, tomatoes and onions, then they top it with a bit of cooling cilantro.
Personally, I had never had this dish before visiting my new amigos at El Dorado, but since they had me try it, I've been back several times... and guess what I order? You got it. My new favorite shrimp dish: Aguachiles. I've even made it at home several times since. It's such a simple recipe, even I didn't screw it up. Not to say it's as good as the guys make it at El Dorado, of course, but it's one of the best shrimp dishes you'll ever eat.
