Mexican Prawn Cocktail with Tomato, Avocado and Chipotle
Rick Stein's recipe for a Mexican-inspired version of a prawn cocktail, made using avocado and chipotle, makes for a great starter to a special meal.
From the book
Rick Stein: The Road to Mexico
Classic dishes you'll fall in love with
All the recipes from Rick's TV series
Learn to make authentic Mexican food
Introduction
It would be hard to wean any British person off prawn cocktail made with Marie Rose sauce (mayonnaise and tomato ketchup), but this is pretty special. Naturally it’s quite spicy and smoky from the chipotle chilli but, as is so often the case in Mexico, the creamy element that I crave is supplied by ripe avocados. This dish comes from a rugged seafood restaurant called El Camello in the town of Tulum.
Ingredients
| 375g | medium prawns, cooked, peeled and deveined |
| 2 | avocados, stoned, peeled and diced, then tossed in lime juice to prevent browning |
| 2 | tomatoes, chopped |
| small handful of coriander, chopped | |
| 1 | little gem lettuce, shredded |
| lime wedges and tortilla chips, to serve | |
| For the sauce: | |
| 275ml | tomato juice |
| 4 tbsp | extra virgin olive oil |
| juice of 1 large lime | |
| 2 | cloves of garlic, peeled |
| ½ | red onion, roughly chopped |
| 2 tsp | chilli sauce (Cholula, Tabasco or Huichol) |
| 1 tsp | Worcestershire sauce |
| 2 heaped tsp | chipotles en adobo |
| ¼ tsp | salt |
| 8 turns | of black peppermill |
Method
To make the sauce, put the tomato juice, oil, lime juice, garlic, onion, chilli sauce, Worcestershire sauce and chipotles en adobo in a blender or food processor. Season with salt and pepper, then blend until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to assemble the dish.
When you’re ready to eat, mix the prawns with the sauce, diced avocado, tomatoes and three-quarters of the chopped coriander. Divide the shredded lettuce between 4 chilled cocktail or sundae glasses. Top with the prawn mixture, then sprinkle with the remaining coriander. Serve with lime wedges and the totopos on the side.
