Shrimp Tacos are on the menu today! Our guest chef Carol provides in-depth instructions to a dish featured at the Mexico Marketplace during the Epcot Food and Wine Festival at Walt Disney World.
I don’t know about you, but the Epcot Food and Wine Festival season is my absolute favorite time of year to visit the parks at Walt Disney World. The weather starts cooling off just a bit (for us Floridians, 80s is definitely cooler)! Walking around the World Showcase sampling amazing food from many different countries is a great way to welcome Fall! If you’ve never been to the festival or are planning a visit, check out the end of this recipe to learn more about the festival along with a few helpful tips to maximize your journey!
I have to say, there are way too many great dishes to actually pick a favorite, but I can tell you that we LOVE the marketplace at Mexico. You HAVE to try the mango habanero margarita while visiting. It’s one of my favorite festival drinks of all time and is probably the most unique pairing of flavors in a drink that I’ve ever had. It pairs so well with the tacos from this marketplace, which by the way are amazing! They taste so fresh, and with a rib eye taco and a tempura shrimp taco to try, you learn quickly that this is definitely a gourmet food-lovers paradise!
Mexico Marketplace
I am excited that the festival sells a cookbook each year. It’s filled with classic festival recipes and updated each year with a few new ones, too! It’s a great way to keep the festival going year round in our house by making fun dishes that we tried on our journey around Epcot’s World Showcase. Luckily, the shrimp taco recipe is in my new 2013 festival cookbook!
Festival Cookbook
I’ve already made this dish twice since visiting last year. Hopefully these tacos will get your family excited about visiting the festival or bring back great memories of your last trip to Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival. These fun little tacos are very easy to make, so let’s get started!
Mexico Booth: Crispy Shrimp Taco with Chipotle Lime Mayo and Cabbage Served on a Flour Tortilla
Ingredients
Makes 10 (6-inch) tacos.
Ingredients
Chipotle Mayo:
Chipotle Mayo
-2/3 cups mayonnaise
-7.5 ounce can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
Shrimp Tempura:
Shrimp Tempura Ingredients
-1 egg white
-¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
-2 tablespoons cornstarch
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
-1/2 teaspoon paprika
-1/4 teaspoon baking powder
-1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
-1/8 teaspoon baking powder baking soda
-1/2 cup water
-1 pound large shrimp, peeled, deveined, with tails removed
(approximately 30-35 shrimp)
Shrimp Tacos:
Ingredients
-10 (6-inch) flour tortillas
-3 cups shredded red cabbage
-3/4 cup favorite salsa verde (green salsa)
Extras:
-Vegetable Oil for Frying
Instructions
Making Chipotle Mayonnaise:Step 1:
Puree chipotle peppers with adobo sauce in a food processor
Puree Chipotle Peppers
Step 2: Mix mayo and pureed chipotle peppers in a medium bowl until smooth
Mix mayo with pureed peppers
Step 3: Cover and refrigerate
Mayo and Pepper Mixture
Making Tempura Shrimp:
Step 1: Heat about 2 inches of vegetable oil to 375 degrees Fahrenheit in a deep fryer or pan that can withstand heat
Heat Vegetable Oil
Step 2: Beat egg white in a small bowl until frothy and light. Do not overbeat. Set aside.
Separate Egg White
Beat Egg White
Step 3: In a large bowl, combine flour.
Combine Flour
Add cornstarch.
Add Corn Starch
Add salt, parsley, paprika, baking powder, garlic powder, baking soda, water, and egg white.
Mix until smooth.
Mixture.
Step 4: Add shrimp and toss until fully covered with batter. Drop 6-8 battered shrimp at a time in hot oil. Do not overcrowd. Fry 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. Remove fried shrimp and drain on paper towels.
Place shrimp on paper towel
Fried Shrimp
To Serve
Step 1:
Spread 1 heaping tablespoon of chipotle mayonnaise on flour tortilla
Step 2: Place 3 shrimp down middle
Step 3: Top with handful of cabbage and drizzle with salsa verde
Serve with tortilla chips and a small salad and you definitely have yourself a fantastic dinner at home!
Shrimp Tacos
A Few Lessons I Learned
As with all recipes, you usually find helpful ways to make it easier to make them. This section is filled with helpful hints that I learned while making this recipe and doing research on some of the ingredients. I hope they help you, too!
–Mix the dry ingredients together first with a fork and get rid of any lumps before adding water and egg to mixture. Tempura is meant to be light, so don’t over mix once you add the egg and water.
–Chipotle mayonnaise is spicy. You have been warned!:)
–Prep your cabbage before making the shrimp.
Prep cabbage
–Don’t heat your oil until you are done making the tempura batter.
–We LOVED serving these at home with Sangria. Here’s a fun addition: You can serve drunken fruit in your sangria. Just cut up an apple and an orange, then sprinkle in a ¼ cup of sugar along with a shot of orange liqueur (like Grand Marnier). Cover your bowl and shake it all together. Refrigerate for as long as possible before serving. If you don’t have a lot of time, throw it in the freezer to chill down quickly.
Sangria
Enjoy!!!
Festival Tips
If you’ve never been to the festival, let me paint the picture for you! Epcot’s World Showcase is filled with unique food booths. They call them marketplaces. Most of them represent a country. You walk up, check out the menu and then you order. Each marketplace offers about 2 or 3 different sample size food dishes along with about 4 or 5 different wines and/or beers. The prices are per sample and are listed on the menu board in front of each marketplace. Check out DFB’s list of last year’s booths and menus for an idea of what to expect!
It’s easy to follow along and even plan ahead with the handy passport that Epcot gives you for free.
Festival Passport
A great tip is to start out at the Festival Center. You can pick up a festival map and a passport. The Festival Center is home to the official festival shop, wine shop, cooking demonstrations, and wine tastings. There’s also a place to sit and sample a few wines.
Since it is air conditioned, it’s a great place to take a seat and go through the passport with your group to plan your journey through the festival. It’s also a great idea to pick up a fun festival wristband gift card.
Gift Card
That way you put a set amount of money on it before you start buying food samples. It’s very easy to walk through without a plan and spend a ton of extra money when you are just swiping your credit card at each booth!
Ready for all of our Tips?
News! The DFB Guide to the 2014 Epcot Food & Wine Festival e-Book is now available for Pre-Order!
This 200-page guide to the Festival offers insider tips and advice as well as all of the details you need to know to plan your best Festival visit ever. Pre-order your 2014 edition today, and download the 2013 guide for FREE — immediately!
Your purchase includes several bonus items as well — including a full daily schedule of events at the Festival and a printable World Showcase Booth Menu Checklist to carry with you as you Eat around the World!
Use code Chefs at check-out for a $3 discount!
If you have been to the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, I’d love to know your favorite dish. Please let me know in the comment section below!
Our handy (and portable!) ebook guides make sure you get the best deals and can plan a vacation of a lifetime.
Looks delicious! I’ve never tried making tempura at home, but this looks pretty uncomplicated. I’ve heard that using seltzer water instead of regular water in tempura batters is supposed to keep the batter very light. Maybe something to try?
No lime in the “chipotle lime mayo”? Seems odd. This sounds really good anyway, though! I love shrimp!
Boys and girls, as warned, the mayo is SPICY!!! If you don’t like as much heat or don’t tolerate it well, maybe you could cut down to one or two peppers instead of the whole can. I may try that next time.
I wish they’d sell Chipotle peppers in a jar…most of the time I see them in cans and I only use a couple.
If they had these at the 2013 Festival we skipped them (I make shrimp and fish tacos at home and we wanted to try new things). I will save this recipe and give it a try. it sounds delicious.
I just need to find the Lamb Chop /Pesto Mint recipe and a few others to bring back some tasty memories.
Thanks for the recipe.
I only used 2 chipotle peppers and a couple of teaspoons of the sauce out of the can. It gives it a little kick without being overpowering. Little kids were able to eat it.