Coctel de Camaron

Name: Coctel de Camaron
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: Raw prawns; Passata; Orange juice; Lime juice; Avocado; Onion; Jalapeno chillies; Fresh coriander; Salt

Coctel de Camaron, plated as one serving.

271 kcal a serving, against 397 for the traditional version. That is 126 kcal off, or 32%, with 42.4g of protein. Serves 4. 45 minutes plus chilling.

What the traditional version is

Poached prawns swimming in a sweet, chilled tomato broth heavily spiked with sugary ketchup, orange juice and lime juice. It's loaded with diced avocado, sharp white onion and chopped fresh coriander, and often finished with a heavy glug of olive oil right before it hits the table.

What changed, and what each change costs

40g of sugar and 30g of olive oil dropped to zero

The sugar in ketchup adds a massive amount of carbohydrates, and the oil adds unnecessary fat. Dropping both forces the fresh citrus and tomato to do the actual work of flavouring the broth without masking it behind a wall of sweetness.

What it costs you. The sauce loses that viscous, sticky mouthfeel you expect from a classic coastal Mexican cocktail. It's thinner and much sharper. Call it a very direct hit of acid that might catch you off guard rather than a sweet comfort blanket and you'll be about right.

300g of avocado reduced to 150g, and 600g of prawns bumped to 800g

Avocado is glorious but incredibly high in fat. Slashing it cuts the fat dramatically, while pushing up the volume of prawns gives you a lot more lean meat. This ensures you're actually eating a full meal, not just a snack.

What it costs you. You get fewer creamy bites of avocado to balance the sharp tomato broth. It's the first thing you'll notice, as the texture leans heavily on the firm prawns instead. If you love avocado, you'll feel the loss.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Raw prawns
Passata
Orange juice
Lime juice
Avocado
Onion
Jalapeno chillies
Fresh coriander
Salt

How it starts

Bring a large pan of heavily salted water to a rolling boil.
Drain the prawns and plunge them immediately into a large bowl of iced water to stop the cooking process dead.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the passata, lime juice, orange juice, finely diced jalapeno and half the diced onion.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Mexican.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	397	271
Protein	33.2g	42.4g
Fat	19.6g	6.9g
Saturated fat	2.8g	1.1g
Carbohydrate	26.9g	13g
Protein per 100 kcal	8.4g	15.7g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Mexican prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. crustaceans.

The method is in the book

This is a deeply refreshing bowl of food. By removing the sugary base, the tomatoes and lime juice finally get to shine. Upping the prawns makes it a seriously filling dinner rather than a fleeting starter. It's a fantastic summer dish, even if it lacks the thick, sweet syrup of the original. The loss is a sugar rush. You get a massive hit of sharp, clean seafood, and I think that's a brilliant swap.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Mexican, along with 56 more. Buy the paperback