Nayarit Shrimp Pozole (Pozole de Camarón)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •8- to 10-quart olla de barro or heavy stockpot
• •Cast iron comal for chiles and dried shrimp
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Large colander for washing nixtamal
• •Sharp paring knife for cleaning shrimp

Instructions

1. 1

   Nixtamalize the corn

   Put the rinsed dried corn in a heavy pot with 3 quarts water and the food-grade cal. Stir until the cal dissolves. Bring to a steady simmer and cook for about 1 hour 30 minutes, until the skins rub loose between your fingers and the kernels feel tender at the edge but still firm in the center. This is the foundation. If the corn is wrong, the pozole is wrong.

2. 2

   Wash the nixtamal

   Drain the hot corn into a large colander and rinse under cool water. Rub the kernels hard between your hands to remove the loosened skins. The water will turn cloudy at first. Keep rinsing and rubbing until the corn feels clean and no longer slippery. If a few skins stay on, nobody dies. If most of them stay on, you were lazy. No me vengas con atajos.

3. 3

   Prepare the shrimp

   Peel and devein the fresh shrimp, keeping the heads and shells in one bowl and the cleaned shrimp in another. Refrigerate the cleaned shrimp until the very end. The shells and heads make the broth. The shrimp meat is added last so it stays tender. Overcooked shrimp turns tight and rubbery, and the pot will tell on you.

4. 4

   Toast the dried shrimp

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the dried shrimp for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly, just until the smell turns deep and ocean-sweet. Do not blacken them. Burned dried shrimp tastes bitter and dirty. Set them aside.

   If the dried shrimp are very salty, rinse them quickly and pat them dry before toasting. Do not soak all the flavor out of them. The dried shrimp is the backbone of this broth.
5. 5

   Wake the chiles

   On the same comal, toast the chile guajillo for about 20 seconds per side, just until flexible and fragrant. Toast the chile cola de rata or chile de árbol for 5 to 10 seconds, because those thin chiles burn fast. Guajillo gives red color and fruit. Cola de rata gives the sharp coastal bite. Blackened chile gives bitterness. Throw out any chile that burns.

6. 6

   Build the shrimp broth

   Heat the oil in a large olla or heavy stockpot over medium-high. Add the reserved shrimp heads and shells and cook, stirring, until they turn coral red and smell roasted. Add 3 quarts water, the toasted chiles, jitomates, half onion, garlic cloves, cumin seeds, peppercorns, and 1 teaspoon salt. Simmer for 25 minutes. This is seafood cooking, so the fat is aceite, not manteca. Do not force pork into a coastal Cuaresma pot.

7. 7

   Blend and strain

   Strain the broth, saving the liquid, chiles, jitomates, onion, and garlic. Discard the shrimp shells, heads, and peppercorns. Blend the saved chiles, jitomates, onion, garlic, toasted dried shrimp, and 2 cups of the broth until completely smooth. Strain this red mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean olla, pressing with a spoon. Add the remaining broth. The liquid should be brick red and smell like shrimp, chile, and the coast.

8. 8

   Reventar the corn

   Add the washed nixtamal to the red shrimp broth. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat so the pot bubbles steadily. Cook uncovered for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, stirring every 20 minutes, until the kernels burst open and look like small flowers. Add hot water as needed to keep the corn covered by 2 inches. Stir from the bottom because the dried shrimp settles. A señora in San Blas would tap your spoon if she saw you ignoring the pot.

9. 9

   Season the pozole

   When the corn has opened, add the dried Mexican oregano, epazote sprigs, and remaining salt. Simmer 25 to 30 minutes more. Taste the broth. It should be assertive, red, briny, and round, not timid. Remove the epazote before serving. Epazote gives its perfume, then it leaves. Así se hace y punto.

10. 10

    Cook the shrimp

    Add the cleaned fresh shrimp to the simmering pozole and cook 4 to 5 minutes, just until the shrimp curl and turn opaque. Turn off the heat immediately. The shrimp are not pork shoulder. They do not need courage, they need timing.

11. 11

    Serve Nayarit style

    Ladle the pozole into deep bowls with plenty of hominy, broth, and shrimp. Put pepino, radish, romaine lettuce, diced white onion, lime halves, dried Mexican oregano, crushed toasted chile, and tostadas on the table. Each person finishes the bowl. No crema. No cheese. No flour tortillas. This is pozole de camarón from the Nayarit coast, and it knows what it is.

Chef Tips

• •Buy shell-on shrimp, heads attached if your market sells them that way. Peeled shrimp saves you ten minutes and costs you the broth. The heads and shells are where the coastal flavor begins.
• •The dried shrimp should smell clean, salty, and strong, not like ammonia. Look for camarón seco in Mexican or Asian markets with good turnover. If the shrimp smell stale, leave them there. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •Chile cola de rata is a thin local chile used along parts of the Pacific coast. Outside Nayarit, chile de árbol is the practical substitute. It is a compromise, not an upgrade, but it gives the right kind of heat.
• •Use guajillo that is flexible and deep red. If the chiles crack like old paper, they are tired. You can have perfect technique and dead chiles and you will get a dead broth.
• •Canned hominy works when time is short. Use four 29-ounce cans, drained and rinsed, and simmer it in the shrimp broth for 45 minutes before adding oregano, epazote, and fresh shrimp. It will not bloom like real nixtamal. Now you know.
• •Pepino on pozole surprises people who only know Jalisco or Guerrero bowls. On the Nayarit and Jalisco coast, it makes sense: cool, crisp, and clean against shrimp and chile. That little detail tells a coastal cook you paid attention.

Advance Preparation

• •The nixtamal can be cooked, washed, drained, and refrigerated one day ahead. Keep it covered. The next day, simmer it in the shrimp broth until it bursts open.
• •The shrimp chile broth can be made one day ahead through the blending and straining step. Refrigerate it without the fresh shrimp. Reheat, add the nixtamal, and continue.
• •Do not add the fresh shrimp until the final 5 minutes before serving. Leftover shrimp pozole is still good, but the shrimp will tighten when reheated. For the best batch-cooking version, store broth and hominy separately and cook fresh shrimp in each portion.
• •Slice the pepino, radish, lettuce, onion, and limes the day you serve. Garnishes are not decoration here. They are part of the bowl.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 700g)