Hispanic Heritage · México

El Pacífico y Baja

Mazatlán · Culiacán · Los Mochis · Topolobampo · Altata · Guasave

Explore this kitchen on the animated map ↗

Aguachile verde de camarón · cooked-shrimp adaptation

Descubre

Along Mexico’s Pacific northwest, seafood meets lime, fresh chile, cucumber, and onion. Aguachile is a vivid introduction to that combination, with a green sauce that puts acidity and freshness at the center of the plate.

La Gente

Traditional aguachile uses raw seafood. Our home-kitchen approach uses cooked, chilled shrimp before adding the lime mixture: citrus changes texture but does not make raw seafood safe. Keep the cold ingredients chilled and dress them close to serving.

Sabor

Lime, fresh green chile, cilantro, cucumber, and onion give this dish its bright character. This adaptation uses cooked, chilled shrimp, dressed just before serving.

Spice DNA · Acid high · Heat high · Herb medium · Smoke none · Sweet none

Seasonings to explore

• Arbol Pepper, whole dried. For aguachile rojo. Chiltepín is the Sinaloa chile; Badia does not sell it and it is hard to find outside the northwest. Árbol is the accepted stand-in on the coast itself.
• Black Pepper, ground. A grind over the shrimp.
• Oregano, whole. In the fish taco batter.
• Minced Garlic in Olive Oil. In the aguachile sauce, for the cooks who use it. Adds a savory garlic base.
• Garlic Powder. In the batter, where a dry garlic belongs.
• Cayenne Pepper. A pinch in the batter, and in the crema if you like it warm.
• Chipotle, ground. In the crema for the fish tacos. Baja does this.

From your market: a pound of shrimp to cook and chill, limes by the bag, serrano chiles, cucumber, red onion, cilantro, avocado, a firm white fish for the tacos, flour, beer, cabbage, Mexican crema or sour cream, and corn tortillas. Keep seafood refrigerated until preparation.

Cocina

Aguachile verde de camarón

Cooked, chilled shrimp under a green sauce of serrano and cilantro. A home adaptation of aguachile, dressed just before serving.

Serves 4

• 1 lb shrimp, peeled, deveined, cooked through, and chilled
• 1 cup fresh lime juice, about 8 limes
• 3 to 4 serrano chiles, stemmed
• ½ cup cilantro leaves
• 2 tsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil, or 2 garlic cloves, optional
• 1½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp Badia Black Pepper, ground
• 1 cucumber, halved and sliced in half-moons
• ½ red onion, sliced paper thin
• 1 avocado, sliced
• Tostadas or saltines

1. Cook and chill the shrimp. If starting with raw shrimp, cook until the flesh is pearly and opaque throughout. Chill promptly in a clean ice bath, drain, and refrigerate until ready. Arrange on a clean, shallow platter.
2. The sauce. Blend the lime juice, serranos, cilantro, garlic if using, and salt until smooth and bright green. Taste it. It should be sharper and hotter than you think is reasonable; the shrimp will soften it.
3. Dress with lime. Pour the sauce over the cooked, chilled shrimp. Toss gently and serve promptly. Lime adds flavor; it does not replace cooking.
4. Dress. Scatter cucumber and red onion over the top. Lay the avocado on. Black pepper over everything.
5. Serve immediately, with tostadas, and something very cold. For aguachile rojo, toast 6 to 8 Badia Arbol Peppers on a dry comal, soak them 10 minutes, and blend them into the lime with a small tomato in place of the serranos and cilantro.

Tacos de pescado estilo Ensenada

Beer-battered fish, cabbage, crema, salsa, corn tortilla. Ensenada has been doing this since the middle of the last century and has not found a reason to change it.

Serves 4

• 1 lb firm white fish, cut into strips the length of a finger
• 1 cup flour, plus ½ cup for dusting
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp Badia Oregano, whole
• 1 tsp Badia Garlic Powder
• ½ tsp Badia Cayenne Pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup cold Mexican lager
• Oil for frying
• 2 cups cabbage, shredded fine
• ½ cup Mexican crema mixed with 1 tsp Badia Chipotle, ground, and the juice of half a lime
• Corn tortillas, limes, salsa

1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, oregano, garlic powder, cayenne, and salt. Pour in the cold beer and whisk until it is the thickness of pancake batter. Do not overmix.
2. Heat 2 inches of oil to 365°F. Dust the fish strips in flour, dip them in batter, and fry 3 to 4 minutes, turning once, until golden and crisp. Drain on a rack.
3. Warm the tortillas. A piece of fish, a handful of cabbage, a stripe of chipotle crema, salsa, lime. Serve promptly while the fish is crisp.

Pueblos del Pacífico y Baja

Mazatlán · Culiacán · Los Mochis · Topolobampo · Altata · Guasave · El Fuerte · Tepic · San Blas · Sayulita · Guaymas · San Carlos · Ensenada · Tijuana · Rosarito · Tecate · Mexicali · San Felipe · La Paz · Loreto · Los Cabos · Todos Santos

Explore all 81 kitchens →