Rissóis de camarão are arguably the most versatile snacks in our holiday arsenal. These humble unassuming pockets, filled with a creamy savory shrimp mixture, are ideal for nearly every holiday situation; they fuel us when we tirelessly wrap gifts, they occupy the idle hands and mouths of restless and demanding little ones, they even provide edible comfort to loved ones embarking on their journeys home in holiday traffic. A delicious and self-contained snack perfect while opening gifts or when raiding the fridge for a post-party midnight snack, rissóis are ready and eager to make our entertaining lives easier!
Make a generous amount as they are sure to be snatched up quickly and feel free and inspired to substitute the filling of our choice! The recipe below, adapted from Sabor Intenso and Sorted Food, has been translated from the original Portuguese. Additionally, we have included a link to a very helpful video documenting the recipe but note that it is in Portuguese.
Recipe Rissóis de Camarão
Ingredients for 45 rissóis:
For dough:
450g of flour
650g of water
100g of vegetable shortening, butter or margarine
1 lemon peel
Coarse salt
For the filling:
1 Kg of shrimp
1 L of water
1 chopped onion
100g of vegetable shortening, butter or margarine
125g of flour
1 tablespoon of tomato pulp
Chopped parsley (to taste)
2.5dl of milk
Half a lemon
Pepper (to taste) .
Salt (to taste)
Nutmeg (to taste)
3 eggs
Breadcrumbs (as needed to coat the pastries)
Flour for sprinkling
Frying oil
Preparation:
Cook the shrimp in about 1 liter of boiling water seasoned with salt. Cook for 3 minutes. Drain them, reserving the liquid. Carefully peel the shrimp. Add 10 shrimp to a food processor and chop finely (or alternately chop finely with a knife). Roughly chop the remaining shrimp.
In a saucepan, heat the butter and add the onion, stirring until golden. Add the flour and cook out the raw flour flavour, you are basically making a roux. Slowly add the milk and shrimp water alternating between the two. You won't need all the water, you need a paste like consistency, like a ravioli filling. It needs to be able to hold its shape without being too thick. Then, add the tomato pulp and the finely chopped shrimp. Season with a few drops of lemon, pepper and nutmeg. Add the roughly chopped shrimp and the chopped parsley. When the mixture begins to bubble, remove and let cool to room temperature.
In the meantime, prepare the dough. In a pan, bring the water, vegetable shortening, lemon peel and salt to a boil. When it is boiling, turn the heat to low. Remove the lemon peel, add the flour and stir constantly until the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Remove from heat.
Pour the dough on a floured surface and let it cool slightly. When your dough has cooled down, a bit use a rolling pin to roll a thin layer of dough. Place about a teaspoon of filling on the dough making sure you have bits of shrimp. Roll the dough over the filling (like ravioli) and press down gently on the edges to seal everything down. Now take a glass and cut the excess dough making sure you have the half disk shape typical of this salty snack. Press gently all over the edge again to seal. Set aside on a floured plate and repeat until you run out of either dough or filling. If you have left over filling either make more dough or use As a sauce for pasta or rice making sure to thin it out first with water or even cream.
Dip the formed rissóis into a shallow dish of beaten eggs then transfer to a dish containing the breadcrumbs to coat them. Fry them in hot oil until the dough is cooked and they are golden brown.