Why This Recipe Works

Shrimp Mozambique is a bracing dish of shrimp bathed in a buttery, garlicky, peppery sauce (think spicy shrimp scampi) with roots in Portugal's history in southeast Africa, where Portuguese colonists cultivated the piri-piri pepper that traditionally gives this dish its heat. This recipe was inspired by Antonio Ferreira Da Silva at Sagres Restaurant; read more about our visit here. We wanted our version to come together quickly and have all the character and flavor of the original. As a stand-in for the hard-to-find piri-piri pepper, we turned to our favorite all-purpose hot sauce, Frank's RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce. Like many of the imported piri-piri sauces we tried, this cayenne pepper sauce is a puree of peppers, salt, vinegar, and oil. To give it the body and balance of those piri-piri sauces, we blended the Frank's with olive oil, garlic, parsley, paprika, and torn bread. After sautéing some onion and a healthy dose of garlic, we added white wine for crisp acidity. We then added the shrimp, and when they were just opaque, we stirred in our pepper sauce and a couple of tablespoons of butter to bring everything together.

Before You Begin

We prefer untreated shrimp—those without added sodium or preservatives such as sodium tripolyphosphate. Most frozen E-Z peel shrimp have been treated (the ingredient list should tell you). If you're using treated shrimp, do not sprinkle the shrimp with salt in step 2. We developed this recipe with Frank's RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce, which is similar to the piri-piri sauce called for in the traditional recipe. Serve with crusty bread or over white rice.

Instructions

for the sauce

Process all ingredients in blender until smooth, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of blender jar as needed.

for the shrimp

Sprinkle shrimp with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper; set aside. Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and ½ teaspoon salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add wine and bring to boil. Cook until reduced by half, about 4 minutes.

Add shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, until opaque and just cooked through, about 4 minutes. Stir in butter and sauce and cook until butter is melted and sauce is heated through, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.