You can find all kinds of cool foods at an Asian Market. While perusing the aisles for lemongrass and galangal, I spotted a box full of whole shrimp, meaning they had the heads and legs and everything. They were pretty inexpensive so I brought a pound home to try out. After looking up a couple recipes I found that the best way to cook whole shrimp is to fry them or grill them, so I tried it.
First, I rinsed them off under cold water. Then I ripped all the heads off. If you're adventurous the heads are totally edible, however I felt that neither I nor my husband would actually want to eat the heads. The heads come off easily and even take some of the veins with them. You want to devein them because, though the veins aren't harmful, they're pretty much shrimp poop. Gross. Since whole shrimp still have their shells you can use kitchen sheers to remove the veins.
Then I came up with an easy marinade to soak the shrimp tails in.
Salt
Pepper
Juice from 1 lime
1 clove garlic, minced
I let the shrimp marinade for about an hour.
Heat up a pan of olive oil or ghee about 1-2 inches deep. Once the oil is hot place as many shrimp as will comfortably fit in the pan. Shrimp can become tough and overcooked easily so only leave them in long enough for them to turn pink. Then flip. Remove from pan, peel, and eat! They're so yummy!
First time cooking whole shrimp: SUCCESS! I will definitely do this again.
