The grill-fest continues on The Woks of Life! A little behind-the-scenes insight for those who wonder how we manage to publish recipes each week… Now that we’re all back in the US, about twice per month, we’ll all get together at the family homestead for blogging mega-weekends. We’ll buy the ingredients, fire up the camera, break out all manner of Peach Festival and rummage-sale-sourced dish ware, and turn our kitchen into a war zone. Hot pans flying, camera shutter clicking, and food getting wrapped up for leftovers the coming week.
Sometimes, during these highly planned cooking frenzies, something random and wonderful will emerge. All we need is a few extra ingredients and an idea. This summer, the grill has been our main source of inspiration, as you can probably already tell from our grilled char siu (whacky in theory but amazing in practice) and our favorite summer grilled wings.
This past weekend, after much of the dust had cleared and we were already in clean-up mode, we had a few ingredients leftover––shrimp, mint, and limes, and a couple of ripe avocados that needed to be used, stat. I came up with this grilled mango shrimp tacos recipe with mint guacamole on a whim, and they turned out so good that we had to make them for the blog. Here’s the recipe; these shrimp tacos are perfect after a long day of blogging, or just a lazy summer afternoon outside.
For the Mint Guacamole:
- 2 large ripe avocados
- ½ of a small onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 holland chile or jalapeno, de-seeded and finely chopped
- 1 lime, juiced and zested
- 2 tablespoons chopped mint
- salt and pepper to taste
For the rest of the dish:
- 1 ½ pounds large shrimp, peeled, deveined, and pat dry with paper towels
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 lime, juiced
- olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 5 bamboo skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes
- 2 large mangoes
- 12 flour tortillas, grilled or warmed
- 1 large tomato, chopped
- a handful of chopped cilantro
- Lime wedges, to serve
Mash the avocados with the rest of the guacamole ingredients or whizz everything together in a blender or food processor. Cover tightly with plastic and set aside.
Toss the shrimp in 2 teaspoons chili powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, lime juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Spear the shrimp onto pre-soaked bamboo skewers and set aside.
Take the mangoes and cut the flesh from the pit on either side into 2 large flat slices, leaving the skin on. Use your knife to crisscross the mango in a grid pattern. Brush with olive oil.
Heat the grill until it’s searing hot. Grill the shrimp (without moving them) for 3 minutes on one side. Flip and grill for another minute on the other side. At the same time, grill the mangoes for about 1-2 minutes per side to caramelize them. Transfer everything to a plate.
To assemble the shrimp tacos, warm the tortillas or place them on the grill to toast.
Spread some guacamole on each tortilla, and top with the shrimp, mango, chopped tomato, and cilantro. Serve with a squeeze of lime.
- 2 large ripe avocados
- ½ of a small onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 holland chile or jalapeno, de-seeded and finely chopped
- 1 lime, juiced and zested
- 2 tablespoons chopped mint
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 ½ pounds large shrimp, peeled, deveined, and pat dry with paper towels
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 lime, juiced
- olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 5 bamboo skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes
- 2 large mangoes
- 12 flour tortillas, grilled or warmed
- 1 large tomato, chopped
- a handful of chopped cilantro
- Lime wedges, to serve
- Mash the avocados with the rest of the guacamole ingredients or whizz everything together in a blender or food processor. Cover tightly with plastic and set aside.
- Toss the shrimp in 2 teaspoons chili powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, lime juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Spear the shrimp onto prepared skewers and set aside.
- Take the mangoes and cut the flesh from the pit on either side into 2 large flat slices, leaving the skin on. Use your knife to crisscross the mango in a grid pattern. Brush with olive oil.
- Heat the grill until it’s searing hot. Grill the shrimp (without moving them) for 3 minutes on one side. Flip and grill for another minute on the other side. At the same time, grill the mangoes for about 1-2 minutes per side to caramelize them. Transfer everything to a plate.
- To assemble the tacos, warm the tortillas or place them on the grill to toast. Spread some guacamole on each tortilla, and top with the shrimp, mango, chopped tomato, and cilantro. Serve with a squeeze of lime.
Amanda says
Your food photography is absolutely beautiful! What camera/lens/editing software do you use? Can’t wait to try these!
Thanks!
Sarah says
Thank you Amanda! I’m using a Nikon D3200 with a 35 mm f/1.8 lens, and I edit in Adobe Lightroom. :)
Sophia says
WOW!
I looked at the pictures and the tacos looked amazing so I had to try them.
I made them using a grill-pan, and they turned out AMAZING, even better than what I expected.
These tacos will definitely go down as one of my favorite recipes. They had such a nice abundance of flavor and the caramelized mangos really add so much to the tacos!
It is the perfect spring/summer grill recipe!
I can’t wait to make more of your recipes :)
Sarah says
Thank you so much for sharing, Sophia! You’re right; this recipe has summer written all over it. Glad you enjoyed the tacos. :)
Bonnie G Morrow says
Well, it was a long wait to try this one since our local grocer did not have any ripe avocados or mangoes, but it was WAY worth the wait! Wow! It was a real treat for all of the senses. Beautiful to look at and the taste, well, there isn’t a word for it…. There were just so many layers of flavor it was incredible. I cut the heat back considerably, 1/8 tsp chili powder and just a couple slices of jalapeño chopped, we are rather weaklings when it comes to heat, but I am glad we are. All of the subtle flavors intermingled and yet held their own with each other and were simply incredible! Who would have thought of mint in guacamole, mangoes grilled….. Well, you did and thank you! It was one of the most incredible meals I have ever eaten and my husband said he had never had shrimp in anything, ever, that was this amazing. I would be proud to serve this dish to anyone. You have outdone yourselves!
Sarah says
Oh my gosh Bonnie, thank you so much for that high praise! I’m so glad that you and your husband enjoyed the tacos (and that you were able to adjust the recipe to your own taste preferences). As for the mint in the guacamole, i KNOW! It was such a surprise, right? This was definitely an example of a kitchen experiment that turned out really well. :)
Sabrina says
I love this idea!
Kaitlin says
Thanks, Sabrina!
Jenn says
I decided to make these for dinner the day you posted the recipe and they were as delicious as you made them look! One of my favourite grilling recipes/meals of the summer so far!
Sarah says
oh my gosh Jenn, that’s awesome! Thanks for sharing. :)
Little Cooking Tips says
We are literally drooling over the keyboard reading this post Sarah! This summer we’re also using the grill much more ourselves as well. Plus, we’ have only used avocado for 3 months, since Panos’ dad had a heart angioplasty and we started reading about food that helps unclog the artieries:)
Avocado is very rarely used here, it’s more of an exotic fruit(?), just like mangoes. But we appreciate both, and since there’s also pittas involved we can’t afford to miss this recipe:) We also never grilled mango before, does it get sweeter when baked?
Regarding the behind-the-scenes insight, we can definitely imagine how this looks:) It may be a bit tiring sometimes, but it’s also very creative isn’t it? You guys love what you do, and it shows, both from your text and your photos.
Thank you for another delicious recipe.
Hugs,
Panos and Mirella
xoxoxo
Sarah says
Thank you so much Panos and Mirella! And thanks for more glimpses into live in Greece. It’s funny, but when we were in Athens in the Spring, we had some of the best Indian food we’d had in a while. Just thought I’d share that. We scarfed it down in our hotel room after a long day at the Acropolis!
Heather (Delicious Not Gorgeous) says
these sound delicious!! even if i just had fajitas for dinner. but didn’t have enough energy to make guac, so i’ll have to make these to get my guac (and mango and shrimp and taco) fix (:
Sarah says
Thanks Heather!