Crevettes en sauce rouge - Prawns in red sauce

Living in the Mediteranean ... seafood is in abundance. And seafood is cooked in countless ways. My husband and I used to take long walks along the beaches and habours before my two sons were born. Smell of the set salty sea, mouthwatering array of fish and seafood being pulled in from the boats and very often the same fisherman turn cook ... preparing their caught in the most delicious yet simple ways!

Eating fish a few times a week is one way to follow a healthy way of eating. Some fish and seafood are healthier than others. But generally in my opinion fish/seafood and all vegetables are the best foods to be eating! Seafood in general is so rich in omega-3 fatty acids. We all should be adding it our weekly meals!

Before, during my 2 last pregnancies dreaded the smell of the fish/seafood so we have a time where we rarely ate it! (Sorry to say!) And it also took me while to figure out some tricks to cleaning various fishes availible here. But now I am happy to say fish/seafood is no longer a problem for me!

Crevettes (shrimps,prawns) are my favourite seafood of all! Crevettes are high in calcium, iodine, protein and good cholesterol from. Crevette consumption is considered healthy for the circulatory system because the lack of significant levels of saturated fat in shrimp means that the high cholesterol content in shrimp actually improves the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol and lowers triglycerides.

There are so many ways to prepare crevettes, but my most favorite way of eating crevettes is simply grilling them with just some lemon juice and olive oil or even eating them steamed then dipping them in cocktail sauce!

In Algeria, there are 2 preferred methods of preparing crevettes. Simply grilled as I have mentioned above or quickly cooked in a Chtitha sauce; red tomatoy sauce. Today; I will present the latter.

Crevettes Chtitha - Crevettes en sauce rouge

• 500g raw fresh (even possible frozen) crevettes
• 4 tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 TBS each of chopped cilantro and parsely
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp saffron
• 4 TBS olive oil
• 100 ml water
• salt/black pepper

How to Clean & Devein Shrimp - by eHow.com

1. Clean and devein the shrimp.
2. Wash, peel and grate the tomatoes and garlic, put them in a saucepan.
3. Add coriander, cumin, paprika, saffron, pepper, salt and olive oil.
4. Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes until slightly thickened.
5. Put the crevettes with tomato sauce, mix and add water.
6. Cook 5-8 minutes uncovered until the crevettes have turned pink. (Once they have turned pink remove them from the fire, you do not want to overcook them!)
   

Serve with rice.