These garlic shrimp tacos are a mashup of flavors that work really well together. Buttery, garlicky shrimp served on a bed of tangy vinegar slaw topped with a sharp arból chile salsa with a touch of Mexican oregano.
Heat a large dry frying pan to medium-hot. Add the quartered tomatoes, garlic, and árbol chiles to toast.
Toast the chiles for 30 seconds on each side and then remove from the pan.
Toast the garlic for 2 more minutes then remove from the pan.
Continue to toast the tomatoes until they blacken.
Add all of the ingredients except the oil to your blender and blend for 1 minute.
In the same frying pan that you toasted the tomatoes, garlic and chiles heat the 2 tablespoons of oil to high heat.
Pour the blended salsa into the hot oil.
Reduce the heat to a simmer, then cook the salsa for 10 minutes.
Vinegar Cabbage Slaw
Pour 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar into the bowl with the cabbage.
Add 1 teaspoon of salt.
Mix thoroughly so that all of the cabbage is coated with vinegar and salt.
Set aside until you are ready to serve your tacos. Stir just before serving.
Garlic Shrimp
If your shrimp come with the shells, remove the shells and discard.
Devein the shrimp by making an incision lengthwise along the back of the shrimp and gently remove the black vein with the tip of a knife.
Finely chop the garlic.
Preheat a large frying pan to medium-hot. Add the chopped garlic and cook for 1 minute stirring 3 times so that the garlic doesn't burn.
Add the shrimp to the pan and stir to coat the shrimp with butter.
Cook the shrimp for about 6 minutes until just cooked through. Stir and turn the shrimp every minute. To check for doneness, cut a couple of shrimp in half. If the shrimp is a pinkish white throughout it is fully cooked. If there are still translucent spots the shrimp needs to be cooked more. Cook for 1 more minute and then check for doneness again.
Assembling the Tacos
Warm the tortillas on a comal or griddle.
On each corn tortilla, layer a bed of cabbage slaw, 3 shrimps and then a dollop of salsa on each shrimp.