Proper preparation of frozen shrimp. How to Cook King Prawns (Frozen, Unpeeled)

It’s not for nothing that king prawns are called that, because unlike regular prawns they have a more delicate special taste, and are also much larger in size. In this article, we will consider how long and how to cook king prawns so as not to overcook them and ultimately get a tasty, soft and tasty delicacy.

Depending on what kind of king prawns are purchased (boiled-frozen or fresh), they will have different cooking times, but it is always important not to overcook the shrimp, as after this the meat will become tough and less tasty. Let's consider how long it takes to cook king prawns in a saucepan after boiling water:

• How long to cook boiled-frozen king prawns (peeled and unpeeled)? Boiled frozen king prawns are already a ready-made product, so it is enough to rinse them under water to remove the ice, then place them in boiling water for 1 minute to thaw and warm them inside.
• How long should you cook raw king prawns? Fresh and raw king prawns are boiled for an average of 7-10 minutes after boiling water in a saucepan (cooking time depends on the size of the prawns, the larger they are, the longer they cook, but no more than 10 minutes so that they do not overcook and the meat does not become tough).

Having learned how many minutes to cook king prawns, we will next consider how to cook them correctly so that they turn out tasty and juicy.

How to cook boiled frozen king prawns (peeled and unpeeled)?

As already mentioned above, boiled frozen king prawns are a ready-made product that, after defrosting, can be eaten, but to make the shrimp tastier, they can be further processed a little. Let's look at step by step how to cook boiled frozen king prawns (peeled from the shell and head, and unpeeled):

• The first step is to defrost the shrimp. To do this, place frozen king prawns in a colander and rinse thoroughly under running cold or warm water so that the ice is completely removed from them and they are also cleared of small debris.
• Place a saucepan of water on high heat (we add 2 times more water by volume than shrimp) and bring the water to a boil.
• Add salt to the pan (a teaspoon per 1 liter of water if the shrimp are peeled or 1.5-2 teaspoons of salt if the shrimp are unpeeled from the shell), as well as the juice from half a lemon, 5-7 pieces of black peppercorns and 1-2 bay leaves.
• Transfer the washed shrimp to boiling water and leave the pan from the heat; after 1-2 minutes, the shrimp can be removed from the water and served.

How to cook raw king prawns?

Raw (fresh) as well as freshly frozen king prawns take a little longer to cook than boiled-frozen ones, but the cooking process itself is not much different. Let's look at how to properly cook raw and frozen shrimp in a saucepan:

• Place a pan of water over high heat (pour in about 2 times more water by volume than shrimp).
• While the water is boiling, you need to defrost the shrimp (if they are frozen). To do this, place them in a colander and rinse them with cold or warm water until all the ice is gone and they become soft.
• After boiling water in a saucepan, add salt (1.5-2 teaspoons per 1 liter of water), as well as lemon juice and spices as desired (black and allspice, bay leaf, herbs).
• Place the shrimp in boiling water and wait until the water boils again, then reduce the heat and cook for 5-10 minutes (the cooking time for king shrimp depends on their size, if they are large, cook them longer, but not more than 10 minutes).
• As soon as all the shrimp have turned a pink (reddish) hue and floated to the surface of the water, they are ready. We transfer them from the pan to a plate and serve, while you can additionally prepare a sauce for them.

Note: fresh frozen king prawns are grayish-green in color, while boiled and frozen ones are pink (reddish).

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Despite the fact that king prawns have recently become familiar to us, they are still considered an exquisite delicacy. Their distinguishing feature is their large size. King prawns are not a special type of crustacean. These include a couple of species of large shrimp that live in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. There is not much meat in them, since the head itself is larger than the body itself. But still, the taste of tiger shrimp is unforgettable.

King prawn meat is considered a dietary product, since 100 grams of uncooked product contains 107 calories. Low-fat fish, bananas and potatoes contain approximately the same amount of calories. In addition, the meat of these shrimp contains a large amount of unsaturated fatty acids. By eating 100 grams of this product per day, you can replenish your body’s daily requirement.

How much and how to cook depending on the type of shrimp

Prawns are very easy to prepare. The main thing to remember is that they do not like to be overcooked or overcooked. To make them tasty and healthy, be sure to pay attention to the freshness of this product when purchasing. This is especially true for shrimp that are thawed or peeled, as they spoil faster.

It is better to give preference to ready-made ones in an ice glaze or fresh ones in the shell. The shrimp should have a curled tail and no dark spots on the shell.

Boiled-frozen in shell

Before you start cooking, the shrimp must first be defrosted, otherwise it may affect the taste. And so, place the product in a colander and place it under running water. The water can be either cold or hot. During rinsing, the ice crust will be washed away, along with the dirt on the shrimp.

While the meat is defrosting, place a pan of water on the fire. You will need 2 times more water than the volume of the product itself. The water needs to be salted and brought to a boil, after which you can add spices to taste.

And so, when the water boils, salt it, squeeze out lemon juice, and then place the product itself. You need to cook them for 2-3 minutes, then put them in cold water. This will help you easily separate the meat from the shell and remove the intestines.

Peeled

If the peeled shrimp were previously frozen, then you do not have to cook them at all. If not, then cooking the royal minutes will be approximately 5 minutes. The main thing is to focus on their size.

Raw

Cooking raw tiger prawns is almost the same as preparing frozen ones, only you don’t need to defrost them. Bring a pot of water to a boil (about 2-3 times the volume of shrimp), add lemon juice (half), allspice, garlic, bay leaf and, if desired, cloves.

Then place the meat itself and cook it for 5-10 minutes. The main thing is not to overcook them. Also, cooked shrimp float to the surface of the water.

How much salt to add

It all depends on your preferences, but they still recommend taking thirty grams of salt per liter of water. It must be added immediately after the water boils. At the same time, spices are added, after which shrimp are placed in the water.

Recipes for suitable sauces

We have already figured out how to cook king prawns, now let’s start preparing the sauce for them. After all, it is the exquisite sauce that emphasizes the taste of seafood and gives it new flavor shades.

Recipe 1

To prepare the sauce you will need: 100 grams of olive oil, the juice of half a lemon, two cloves of garlic, half a teaspoon of coriander and ⅛ teaspoon of chili pepper.

Preparation

Peel the garlic and crush it using a mortar. Then fry the garlic in a heated frying pan with olive oil, then remove the garlic and add a little chili pepper, coriander and freshly squeezed lemon juice to the olive oil. The sauce will be a little spicy, which will complement the neutral taste of seafood.

Recipe 2

To prepare the cream sauce you will need: 200 grams of cream, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 5 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon of ground almonds, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, half a teaspoon of oregano, parsley, salt, ground black pepper.

Preparation

Cut the peeled garlic into thin slices. Then heat the butter in a frying pan and fry the garlic until golden brown. Then add olive oil and almonds to the pan, then stir and leave on low heat for another 5 minutes. When the time is up, turn off the pan and add salt, oregano, pepper, lemon juice and chopped parsley to the almost cooked sauce. The sauce is ready!

Video: How to properly cook king prawns

King prawns sound beautiful and make you think of gourmet exotic cuisine. Indeed, this type of shrimp differs from its counterparts in its subtle, specific taste: they have more sweetness than ordinary shrimp. And they are also larger in size. The largest specimens sometimes grow up to 30-35 cm and can weigh 250 grams. But these are exceptional cases. The king prawns sold in our stores are not that big, but they are still large enough to attract our attention and whet our appetite.

Cooking king prawns is not difficult; they can be served very beautifully, using herbs, lemon, tomatoes or avocado for decoration. Shrimp can be an ingredient in a wide variety of dishes, or can be served as an independent dish with various sauces. There are a great many sauce recipes; in addition, you can show your imagination and create your own, one and only, sauce.

Cooking shrimp
First, let's take a closer look at how to cook king prawns.

First they need to be defrosted. If you have time, transfer the shrimp from the freezer to the refrigerator in advance and they will defrost naturally after a few hours. After this they need to be washed. If you have not previously defrosted the shrimp, you can defrost them directly during the washing process, although this will take a little longer. To rinse, place the shrimp in a colander and place under running water. If the shrimp are frozen, the water can be hot, this will not harm them at all.

In the meantime, you need to put a pan of water on the fire and wait for the water to boil. The volume of water should be approximately three times the volume of the shrimp. Place the shrimp, washed from contaminants and freed from excess particles, into boiling salted water. We take salt at the rate of 20-30 grams per liter of water. You can also add to the water: lemon juice, black or allspice peas, bay leaf, a head or several cloves of garlic, dill - fresh or dried, coriander seeds. Each of these spices will give the shrimp a special taste and aroma. You can also use any combination of them to suit your taste.

Now we wait for the water to boil again, remove the foam and cook until tender.

Cooking time for king prawns
The shrimp you buy in the store will most likely be boiled and frozen. Although occasionally there are those that were frozen raw. They differ in color. If the shrimp are bright pink in color, it means they were cooked before being frozen. If the shrimp are gray-green in color, it means they were frozen without processing.

Why do we need to know this? This determines how long to cook the king prawns. If you cook pink, processed shrimp, keep them in boiling water for no more than five minutes, otherwise they will become tough. If you come across raw frozen shrimp, cook them for about eight minutes.

The cooking time also depends on the size of the shrimp. Large specimens take longer to cook than smaller ones. Although king prawns, by definition, cannot be small, their sizes still vary within certain limits.

If you cook peeled king prawns, keep in mind that the amount of salt should be halved. Otherwise, they are cooked in the same way - in boiling water, with additives if desired, but in a little less time than shrimp in the shell.

Cook shrimp in the microwave and in a double boiler
There is an original recipe for cooking shrimp in the microwave. Thawed and washed shrimp are poured with beer. For one kilogram of shrimp you need to take 100-150 ml of light beer. Salt, add black pepper and, if desired, a little lemon or lime juice. Place the container with shrimp soaked in beer in a microwave oven for seven minutes. Then we take it out, pour out half the beer, and put it in the microwave again, this time for five minutes. The shrimp are ready.

Beer can be replaced with water, then you will get regular boiled shrimp. In the first case, the shrimp will have an unusual taste.

Cooking shrimp in a double boiler is also not at all difficult. Fill the steamer container with water to the marked line, place the defrosted shrimp in the water, add a few slices of lemon and salt. Turn on the steamer. In fifteen minutes the shrimp will be ready. The taste of shrimp cooked in a double boiler is softer and more delicate than those cooked over a fire.

Original ways to cook shrimp
King prawns are found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, as well as in freshwater bodies of Asia and Latin America. They are eaten all over the world, and they do it in different ways.

For example, in Italy, shrimp are boiled in milk or even heavy cream. Place them in boiling milk, unpeeled, and cook in it until tender. Add salt and spices, but do not add lemon so that the milk does not curdle.

In Japan and China, when boiling shrimp, they add not spices to the water, but green tea, that is, they get shrimp boiled in tea. In Russia they came up with the idea of ​​boiling shrimp in beer and even vodka. Vodka is not used instead of water, but simply added 1-2 glasses during cooking. This gives the shrimp a tartness and probably a certain strength.

Beer for boiling shrimp is also used not pure, but diluted 1:1 with water, with the addition of salt, pepper and lemon. The shrimp are boiled, then covered with a lid and left for 10-15 minutes so that they are better saturated with the beer broth.

Sauces for shrimp
Traditionally, shrimp are served with lemon juice: add lemon while cooking, drizzle lemon juice over shrimp after they are cooked, or mix lemon juice with olive oil and dip peeled shrimp in it.

In addition to olive oil, lemon juice can be mixed with low-fat sour cream, add finely chopped herbs (parsley, dill, cilantro, rosemary, thyme, arugula), salt and pepper and serve with shrimp. You can add mustard.

You can use garlic cheese sauce. The cheese must be hard; Parmesan is best. It is grated on a fine grater, mixed with sour cream and mayonnaise, and grated garlic is added. If you want the sauce to have fewer calories, then you do not need to add mayonnaise.

The simplest and most universally loved sauce, popularly called “ketchunez,” is extremely easy to prepare: ketchup and mayonnaise are mixed in equal proportions.

King prawns and diet
King prawns are considered a dietary dish, because their calorie content is low: a maximum of 110 kcal per hundred grams of product. At the same time, they are very nutritious, because they contain a lot of protein (21g per 100g), which is easily digestible, and a large number of essential amino acids necessary for the normal functioning of the body. King prawns contain a lot of microelements and many vitamins necessary for humans.

The fat content of king prawns is very low: 1.7 g per 100 g of product. It is even smaller than ordinary, small-sized shrimp. Moreover, the fat contained in shrimp is very healthy, because it consists of saturated fatty amino acids, which have a beneficial effect on blood vessels and the heart and do not form harmful cholesterol.

Seafood and, in particular, shrimp, have long ceased to be something unusual on our tables. But some housewives still don’t know how to cook king prawns correctly. To make them tasty and not rubbery, you don’t need to have any special culinary skills, just know a couple of simple secrets.

How to cook delicious king prawns with spices

Required Products:

• king prawns – half a kilogram;
• various spices to your taste;
• half a lemon.

Cook the shrimp with spices only in a large saucepan; they should float freely in it.

Cooking process:

1. Fill the container with water, set it to boil, add a little salt, pepper and cloves. You can add crushed garlic. Use any seasonings you like.
2. As soon as the liquid boils, pour the juice from half a lemon into it, stir and lower the shrimp. If you have a raw product, then it will take about 10 minutes to prepare, and if it is already boiled, then three will be enough.
3. Drain excess liquid by placing shrimp in a colander and serve as an appetizer or main course.

Recipe for quick cooking in a slow cooker

Required Products:

• 80 grams of butter;
• about half a kilogram of shrimp;
• two cloves of garlic;
• any spices to your liking.

Cooking process:

1. First place the shrimp in the bottom of the multicooker bowl, and then the spices that you decide to use. Cover all this with chopped garlic in any way and, finally, spread the butter. You can cut it into small cubes. Fill with water.
2. We turn on the device in the “Cooking” mode for 10 minutes and after this time, immediately take out the seafood. For a particularly subtle taste, you can lightly marinate the prepared crustaceans in lemon or lime juice.

Do not leave cooked shrimp inside the multicooker bowl in the warming mode. For tender meat, two minutes will be enough to lose its juiciness and softness.

Frying seafood in a frying pan

Shrimp in a frying pan turns out very tasty, and is made very quickly and simply.

Read more on the site: Herring oil - a homemade recipe. Classic preparation.

Required Products:

• a pinch of rosemary;
• two tablespoons of olive oil;
• three cloves of garlic;
• half a kilogram of shrimp.

Cooking process:

1. Heat a frying pan well with oil, put a little rosemary and well-chopped garlic on it. It is better to cut it into small pieces rather than put it through a press. Keep the spices in hot oil for about two minutes and add the shrimp.
2. If you have a lot of them, cook in batches as each one should be well immersed in the oil.
3. As soon as the color of the shrimp begins to change to a darker color, immediately remove them with a slotted spoon and place them on napkins or paper towels to remove the fat.

It is best to fry shrimp in oil without first peeling them. Then they will come out juicier.

Cooking frozen king prawns

Frozen king prawns are no more difficult to prepare than fresh ones. All you need to do is pre-defrost.

Required Products:

• spices, salt, to taste;
• the right amount of shrimp.

Cooking process:

1. First, defrost the seafood. You can simply leave them at room temperature or run them over with slightly warm water to help the ice melt off faster.
2. We heat the water, put spices in it and as soon as the contents boil, add enough shrimp so that they float freely in the liquid.
3. Cook for about seven minutes and remove with a slotted spoon. Please note that the times indicated are for gray raw shrimp. If they are pink, it means they have already been boiled, and only 3 to 4 minutes will be enough.

Prepare the finished product in garlic sauce

Required Products:

• about 50 grams of butter;
• three cloves of garlic;
• thicker cream;
• 50 grams of cheese;
• spices to taste;
• fresh dill;
• half a kilogram of shrimp.

Cooking process:

1. Melt the specified amount of oil in a frying pan and immediately place finely chopped garlic in it. Sauté for a couple of minutes and pour in cream.
2. After the first bubbles appear, place the shrimp in the pan. Keep them for just a couple of minutes, add spices, salt and finely chopped dill. Mix.
3. After another two minutes, add grated cheese to the sauce.
4. Turn off the heat, but do not remove the dish, but let it brew for another three minutes. Then we serve.