Garlic Buttered Shrimp with Sprite

Garlic buttered shrimp is made by marinating fresh large shrimp in lemon soda then sauteed and cooked in a sauce made with butter, tomato sauce, garlic, oyster sauce, salt, pepper and spring onions. This garlic buttered shrimp with sprite is best partnered with hot steaming rice as well as ice cold beer and is lower in fat and calories compared to most meats. This is definitely the answer to your seafood craving.

GARLIC BUTTERED SHRIMP RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 500 grams shrimp
• ¼ cup butter
• 7 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 cup Sprite
• Salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste
• Spring onions (optional)

Directions:

1. Wash and prepare the shrimps carefully. Cut the sharp edges, the antenna and the legs using a scissor. Using a toothpick, devein each shrimp. Then, place them in a large bowl.
2. Pour around ¾ of the Sprite (or any lemon soda) into the shrimp. Submerge the shrimp into the soda and marinate for 30 minutes. Then, drain after.
3. Melt the butter in a heated pan. Saute the chopped garlic for a few minutes until aromatic. Add the marinated shrimp and saute gently until they change into a vibrant orange color. Once orange, remove the shrimps from the pan and transfer to a plate. Set aside.
4. Add the tomato paste in the garlic butter and then saute until well mixed. Add the rest of the Sprite and stir to combine.
5. Season the sauce with some oyster sauce and ground black pepper. Continue cooking until the sauce is reduced and becomes slightly thickened.
6. Add the sauteed shrimp back to the pan. Toss gently to coat each of them with the sauce.
7. Transfer the garlic butter shrimp to a serving plate. Garnish with some freshly chopped spring onions.
8. Enjoy the garlic butter shrimp as it is, or have it as an ulam to a hot steaming rice or pulutan to an ice cold beer. Yum!

WHAT IS A SHRIMP?

If there would be a competition on the best seafood out there, the shrimp would surely be a great challenger. Among all the seafoods, the shrimp is one of the most famous and is very common to see in the market.

I have a certain core memory with shrimps. It is usual for kids to draw shrimps when drawing beaches, right? As an innocent girl who only knows shrimps when they are cooked, I drew orange shrimps on my beach! My teacher bursted into laughter after seeing this. Who would’ve thought that shrimps are actually gray or black and simply turns orange once cooked?

Also, did you know that there are a lot of shrimp variety out there? The types are usually based on their size. Our market list would sometime have descriptors as big shrimps and medium shrimps. Let me share with you the most common shrimp varieties from the largest up to the smallest.

• Suwahe – Also known as prawns or Tiger shrimps, these are the giant varieties. These shrimps are often used in tempuras. When stretched, they can go as long as 3 inches. Many people say that they taste a little sweeter than the sugpo.

• Sugpo – This is the actual hipon that we know. The sizes of these shrimps vary from 1 to 2 inches. These shrimps are oftenly used for dishes like garlic buttered shrimps, as complementary meat such as in chopseuy.

• Hibe – This type of shrimp are small ones which are already processed, seasoned and dried. It’s length usually goes around half an inch. They are often used as complementary flavors such as in misua. 

• Bagoong Alamang – This might be a big revelation for you but the sauteed bagoong alamang that you put on top of your ripe mangoes is actually tiny shrimps. These shrimps are processed, salted and preserved, and is usually used as a condiment for dishes like kare kare. Pink alamang is the unsauteed ones while the brown is the sauteed one.

GARLIC BUTTERED SHRIMP

I became really into seafoods lately as I watched some seafood mukbang videos on Youtube. I bought a lot of fish types and cooked them into steaks, sisig, etc., but the seafood craving just won’t go away. Not until I prepared myself some large shrimps I can mukbang on my own!

While there are a lot of dishes you can do with shrimps, garlic buttered shrimp is one of the easiest ones and also requires minimal ingredients. With just butter, garlic and some added seasonings, your shrimp will be an instant 5-star dish in no time. Of course, there would be a major ingredient which will be revealed later! Good thing garlic is still not pricey in our country! (HAHA)

If you wanna know how to make some garlic buttered shrimp, read and follow the simple steps below. Happy cooking!

HOW TO COOK GARLIC BUTTERED SHRIMP

Making some garlic buttered shrimp is super simple and straightforward. While we all know that seafood dishes must be cooked quickly to avoid being chewy, this garlic buttered shrimp recipe is best served for surprise guests and rushed meals!

The first step is preparing the shrimps. When you buy from local markets, you will most likely get the freshest ones which are still alive. These type of shrimps are the best, especially for this recipe. Remove the antenna, sharp edges, and the legs to prepare the shrimp. This dish will be made with thin and light garlic butter sauce, so it would be best to keep the shells intact, as they can hold some of the sauce making them best to papak or partner with rice.

Marination is always the first step when we want our main ingredient to be flavorful. Since we cannot cook the shrimp for long, the best way to prepare it is to marinate. But unlike other dishes, we marinate our shrimps with Sprite (or any lemon soda). This hack adds extra sweetness to the natural ocean taste of the shrimp, and also gives the flesh extra tenderness when cooked.

To make the garlic butter sauce, simply melt the butter in a pan and saute the garlic just for a few minutes. Make sure that you use butter and not buttermilk. Do not let the garlic become brown. Add the shrimp to the sauce and gently toss them a bit to cook and coat.

At this point, the sauce is just plain buttery so you will be needing some tomato paste to hype things up. Add some oyster sauce and pepper to according to your preference. Be cautious with adding salt especially if you used salted butter. You can also make this spicy by adding a few red and green chilies. You can also add some herbs if you like!

Transfer the garlic buttered shrimp to a serving plate and enjoy it however you like. I really love this dish spicy and with hot rice. Yum!

Garlic Buttered Shrimp Recipe Tagalog

Mga Sangkap:

• ½ kilo ng hipon
• ¼ tasang butter
• 7 butil ng bawang (hiniwa)
• 2 kutsarang oyster sauce
• 1 kutsarang tomato paste
• 1 tasang Sprite (o lemon soda)
• asin
• paminta
• Spring onions (optional)

Paano Lutuin:

1. Linisin at hugasan ang mga hipon. Alisin ang mga sungay, sungot at paa nito gamit ang gunting. Gumamit ng toothpick para ma-devein ang mga ito. Ilipat ang mga hipon sa malaking bowl.
2. Ilagay ang ¾ ng Sprite (o lemon soda) sa bowl. Siguraduhing nakababad lahat ng hipon sa Sprite. Imarinate ang mga ito ng 30 minuto bago salain.
3. Tunawin ang butter sa kawali at igisa ang bawang hanggang maging mabango. Sunod na ilagay ang mga hipon at gisahin ang mga ito habang hinahalo. Kapag naging matingkad na orange na, ilipat ang mga ito sa hiwalay na lalagyan at isantabi.
4. Ilagay ang tomato paste at igisa habang hinahalo. Ibuhos ang natitirang Sprite at haluing mabuti.
5. Timplahan ang sauce gamit ang oyster sauce at paminta. Hayaan itong maluto hanggang lumapot ang sauce.
6. Ibalik ang mga hipon sa kawali. Haluin ito ng dahan-dahan para malagyan lahat ng sauce.
7. Ilipat ang garlic butter shrimp sa serving plate. Budburan ito ng spring onions sa ibabaw bago ihain.
8. Papakin ang garlic butter shrimp o samahan ito ng mainit na kanin o gawing pulutan. Yum!