Kabobs are an easy approach to grilling. String a bunch of meats, veggies, or even fruits up on a stick and toss it on the barbeque! This recipe is pretty simple, doesn’t have a huge amount of prep time, if you don’t count the waiting time, and the results are worth it. Rage on.
Ingredients
- 21 Shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 3 Skewers
- 1 tbs. Brown Sugar
- 1 tsp. Granulated Garlic
- 1/2 tsp. Ground Ginger
- 1/2 tsp. Hoisin Sauce
- 2 tbs. Soy Sauce
- 3 tbs. Vegetable Oil
- 1/4 tsp. Fish Sauce
- 2 tsp. Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 tsp. Salt and Pepper
Quick Directions
- Soak skewers in water(if wooden skewers) for at least an hour.
- Mix ingredients 3-11 together to create marinade.
- Toss shrimp into marinade and cover. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Put seven shrimp on each skewer.
- Grill for 3-5 minutes on each side.
- Enjoy.
Detailed Directions
I usually buy the frozen shrimp. It is slightly cheaper where I live and is the same as what quality I would get at the fish counter at the grocery store. Since I don’t live close to a coast I have found it to be a good option. However, fresh is best!
Regardless of how your shrimp has been acquired, make sure it is thawed, peeled and deveined. It can be a messy process but you really don’t want to eat those parts so go ahead and do it right. I usually put my shrimp in a bowl of cold water and let it thaw for about 30 minutes before I peel it and make sure that it has been properly deveined. And honestly it hasn’t always been so there is a little bit of clean up. Of course you may ask…why don’t you thaw your shrimp ahead of time? Well easy to answer, I don’t always plan to use shrimp and I always have it in the freezer so it is usually a last minute thing, hence the water bath.
So we have our shrimp squared away. Now make sure your skewers are properly treated. If you are using the wooden one use ones, you need to make sure to soak them in water. Nothing special here, just a regular water bath. The reason we do this is to make sure they don’t light on fire while on the grill. It won’t really hurt anything if you skip this step but it will kind of ruin the magic of a kabob as the ends burn up. Keep that in mind.
Whisk together the marinade(ingredients 3-11) and put the shrimp in. Cover it and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. You don’t have to do this if you’re short on time but getting those flavors into the shrimp is worth it.
Once the shrimp has marinated and the skewers have soaked in water, you are ready to start preparing the kabobs. It is really easy, so don’t go getting into a rage! You want to put the skewer through the tail side of the shrimp and then through the head side. Having a little space in the middle part is what you want. You could run the skewer through the whole piece of shrimp but then it will take up more space and the shrimp won’t get that normal shape once cooked. To be honest it would be weird!
Hopefully the picture illustrates what we want. But by all means, feel free to try a different skewer technique if you like. It is your kitchen, and your decision!
I found seven shrimp fit on the skewer great. You may find you can fit a few more or a few less depending on what size shrimp you have purchased. And that is ok! Fit what you can so that it is nicely filled up, or even put a few less on if you want to only serve so many to each person and want them to have their very own kabob.
Put them on the grill and give them about 4-6 minutes per side. With the marinade it makes it harder to tell when they are done as they are already dark. But, shrimp doesn’t take long and you will know its done when it gets some nice grill marks on each side. If you are scared of undercooking them, make sure they get the 6 minutes and some solid marks before you flip.
Using this marinade with shrimp doesn’t have to be limited to the grill and a kabob. Feel free to soak the shrimp in the tasty juices for a pan fry. The kabob also doesn’t have to be limited to just the shrimp, I find putting some chunks of fresh pineapple that has soaked in the marinade is also amazing. I can’t see where this process would fail with other things that may come to your mind. Just remember that shrimp cooks very fast, so if you are using a thicker piece of meat you will need to cook it longer. Accept your decisions and appreciate them. Cooking can be scary, but it isn’t worth a bad rage. We all can do it, some of us may just need a bit more learning. Rage on friends.
