For my second passion blog post, I decided to try to make something completely new. Camarão Moçambique (also known as Shrimp Mozambique) is an Afro-Portuguese dish originating from the Portuguese-speaking country of Mozambique, Africa. This recipe fuses multiple cultures by incorporating the seafood aspect and spices of multiple cultures and their availability.
This recipe was quite easy to make, especially since I’m used to making shrimp pretty frequently. Unforntualey, a lot of the recipes I looked at talked about using “Piri-Piri” which is a hot pepper sauce or powder that is pretty hard to find in the United States. A few recipes I did come across, though, did mention a few spicy substitutes for that particular spice as an alternative. The recipe I used told me to try habanero chili instead and, from what I could tell, it seemed to work well as an alternative. To be honest, I feel like the fact that it is so hard to find that ingredient also makes it more special in revealing the authentic fusion of African and Portuguese culture in this dish. Other than that, all of the other ingredients we’re very readily available in my kitchen which made the process a whole lot easier.
In Portugal, this dish is served as either an appetizer or as an entrée. Usually, when it is served as an entree, it is coupled with a bowl of rice (which is how I made my own). Some of the sources I looked into also said that it is customary to eat bread with this dish to soak up some of the sauce.
If you like shrimp, I’d defiantly try this recipe out. It’s not too complicated and the results are definitely worth the work. The whole process took me about a half-hour, so I’ll definitely be making this recipe again because it was a lot easier than I expected. It’s also really perfect for the upcoming cold weather so if you are looking for a dish to warm you up, you should definitely try this one. Fair warning, the recipe is pretty spicy but I’m sure you could avoid using certain ingredients if you’re not a big fan of spicy foods. Personally, I really into spicy foods so I just made it with all of the spices in the recipe.
There is quite a bit of variation from recipe to recipe, but the main ingredients and tastes are the same. I’m definitely interested in trying another version of this recipe in the future and seeing how different it might be.
As always, if you decide to try this recipe out, I’d love to hear about how it went. I’ll leave the link to the recipe and more cultural information in case you are interested in reading more or making it yourself. Also, if anyone has any suggestions for a specific culture and/or recipe they want me to try out for my next post, I’d love to hear it.
Link to Recipe: https://www.thespruceeats.com/shrimp-mozambique-camarao-mocambique-2743418
History Source: https://ifood.tv/african/shrimp-mozambique/about
Image Source: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/shrimp-mozambique/
This dish looks delicious! Unfortunately, I am allergic to shellfish 🙁 so I would not be able to try this recipe, but it sure does look tasty! I feel like I know exactly how this dish would taste, which is weird because I haven’t had a bite of shrimp in almost 10 years, but just by the looks of it, I know that it was a spice lover’s heaven! I am looking forward to seeing what you make next!
I love spicy food so much and shrimp! I will for sure have to try this, it might take me a couple tries but I think it’ll be worth it. I love all sorts of spices and chiles, and just find that they complete a dish. If you could honestly rate it on a scale from 1-10, how spicy would you rate it!! Seriously can’t wait for next time’s passion blog!
This sounds so good, sadly black pepper is as spicy as I get. However, my dad and sister are spice fanatics so maybe I will share this recipe with them! Your blogs are so much fun and I enjoy reading them! I can’t wait to read the next one!