Smoked Tajín Shrimp Tacos, Mango Habanero Salsa

Tacos aren’t anything new over here. And while I’ve eaten more than my fair share, I don’t think I’ve displayed any kind of seafood taco on here. What is new is the idea of me making a mango habanero salsa. You know I do around here.. I’ll walk you through my process, but I always give you the recipe up front.

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Recipe

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The Prep Table

Without a doubt, the star should be the salsa that I’m going to throw onto these tacos. I haven’t really ever been a fan of a sweet and heat flavor. Anywhere I go, whether it be sauce on a chicken wing or a salsa, the mainstream always plays it safe and gives you the fruity instead of the fire. Not today. I’m a do things my way and see how it turns out.

I couldn’t decide if I wanted serranos or jalapenos, so naturally I bought ’em both – took a bite, and decided to use ’em both. Jalapeno is my green pepper these days. And the habanero is probably my favorite pepper so far. I don’t like hot just to be hot, it has to taste good.. and I think the habanero accomplishes that for me. Anyway, we’re throwing a pile of spicy in there. But of course, we gotta add that sweet element as well.

Any good homemade salsa needs the cilantro, so that’ll round out our salsa preparation. Yes, I still did a chop prior to the food processor. I didn’t know how much of each I wanted to add in there (Even though I ended up throwing all the habaneros in there after all. Shocker.)

Rounding out the entire meal prep was some quick thawed shrimp, some fresh prepped jalapeno/onion/cilantro, and some cotija cheese. What I didn’t snap a photo of is the avocado. This meal was going to be FRESH, and the avocado was cut right before I ate it.

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The Process

So yeah, throw those salsa ingredients into the food processor and let her churn. Take a chip and give it a taste. Tailor it the way you want, but this had exactly what I wanted out of it. I didn’t want a liquid salsa, I wanted substance. I left the seeds on the peppers, I kept it chunky. The tajín shrimp was going to have a nice, light flavor.. let’s really accentuate with some hot ass salsa.

That is exactly what I wanted, and exactly what I got. I ended up throwing this into a couple jars and gave it out to my colleagues. Heard it was a good breakfast salsa, and I have no doubt that it would be.

I was relatively unfamiliar with the Tajín seasoning.. until my travels took me to Texas. I was introduced to this – which was seemingly everywhere. I learned about chamoy, chelada, michelada.. and tajin. I thought, why not throw it on some shrimp and smoke ’em up. As I stated before, the star of this show is the salsa. The 30min smoke job on the shrimp isn’t enough for a Forensic Friday – but the bringing together of all this absolutely is. RecTeq to 225, 15-30min or so.. let that shrimp grab color and get ready to build.

I put the flour tortillas in a pan and gave them a little color and opened them up. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to do the flour or corn tort, but I think the flour was the right call. Minute or two in the pan, then onto the taco tray. Love the taco tray.

The Result

Throw a thin slice of avocado on the side, ladle on the salsa and the fresh onion/pepper/cilantro and cheese. I even wedged out some limes for a quick spritz before the bite. MrsForensicBBQ had a sea-themed plate, which if I was more of a photographer I would have planned this. But really it’s one of our bigger, flatter plates that holds my metal tray better.

Always pack these to the top. Each bite was a crazy blast of flavor. And HEAT. That salsa turned out to be one of the better ones I’ve made. I couldn’t believe that I enjoyed a mango habanero salsa. I get the popularity of it now. I just don’t like the commercialization of sacrificing the heat for sweet. This thing kicked, but was also pleasant. Copy this one down and use it. Next time, I might even add more heat because I don’t know my limits.

Go on and get ya some!

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The Recipe