Lowcountry Shrimp Perloo
from https://honest-food.net/

In the Lowcountry region (the coastal areas of the Carolinas and Georgia), perloo is a beloved rice dish often made with the region's plentiful shellfish. Similar to jambalaya, perloo starts with a flavorful base of rice simmered with tomato, bell pepper, celery, garlic and onion.

In Charleston, South Carolina, rice was once king. And this Lowcountry perloo was once one of that region’s crowning dishes. Perloo. Such a strange name, and spelling. It gets even stranger when you see it spelled purloo or perlo. But if you say it, and you’ve been exposed to the cooking of certain parts of the Middle East, India or East Africa, you’ll recognize that this is a version of pilau. And if you eat it, you will taste echoes of its more famous cousin, Louisiana jambalaya.

Perloo’s origins lie in Africa. West Africa, to be exact. The concept of a one-pot, rice-and-whatever dish exists wherever rice is grown, and in Senegal there is a dish known as jollof rice, with its own variations throughout that part of Africa. Two centuries ago, Charleston was the entry point for roughly 40 percent of all African slaves to this country, and the city’s cuisine reflects those African roots. Even the rice is African, Oryza glaberrima, which is a different species than the Asian rice we all buy today.

And while African rice hasn’t been grown commercially in the Lowcountry since the 1920s, it’s recently been revived as Carolina Gold rice, which is a hybrid between the old African rice and Asian varieties. (You can buy Carolina gold rice online.)

Many varieties of perloo exist. I’ve seen them loaded with pig parts, with chicken, rabbit, or game. But mostly perloo is about seafood, and mostly that seafood means shrimp, crab and oysters. Mine just has shrimp, but you can add the other seafood if you’d like.

Some sort of smoked pork is vital to a good perloo. Bacon is what I use, but salty country ham or salt pork will also work. Jowl bacon is ideal. And yes, I’ve seen sausage in perloo, too, but to me that tips it a bit too close to jambalaya.

FMM: This definitely made me think Jambalaya when eating this, and kept thinking it needed Cajun Spices. It would be a great recipe for someone looking for something similar to Jambalya, but not as spicy. I only used 1/4 of a small Habanero pepper as I didn't want to make it too hot, but I barely noticed the heat.

Perloo recipe

Shrimp Stock
2 pounds shrimp, with shells (and heads if possible)
2 bay leaves
1 onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped

Main Recipe
1/4 pound thick-cut bacon
2 cups chopped white or yellow onion
2 cups chopped celery stalks
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 1/2 cups rice
1/2 cup white wine
1 14.5 ounce can fire-roasted tomatoes
1 datil*, fish** or habanero chile, minced (optional)
1/3 cup chopped parsley
Black pepper to taste

* The datil is a small, very hot pepper, a variety of the species Capsicum chinense. Datil peppers are cultivated throughout the United States and elsewhere, but the majority are produced in St. Augustine, Florida. Datil peppers are exceptionally hot, falling in the 100,000 to 300,000 Scoville heat unit (SHU) range. This places them on par with habaneros in terms of heat.
** Fish chile is a rare, 1870's African-American heirloom. Commonly held to be the secret ingredient by Chesapeake Bay fish houses, the Fish Chile Pepper is a special ingredient in seafood recipes. Fish chile peppers are considered hot, with a Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) rating ranging from 5,000 to 30,000. This puts them on par with or slightly spicier than a jalapeño pepper.

Peel all the shrimp and put the shells, and heads if you have them, into a pot with the bay leaves, onion, celery and carrot. Cover with 7 cups of water and bring to a simmer. Simmer gently for 30 minutes while you chop everything else for the perloo.

As the stock is simmering, slowly fry the bacon in a large, heavy pot. When it is crispy, remove the bacon (eat a slice) and chop roughly. Set the bacon aside.

Saute the 2 cups chopped onion, 2 cups chopped celery and the diced yellow bell pepper in the bacon fat until soft but not browned. Add the garlic and rice and cook, stirring often for 3 minutes, until the rice turns translucent.

Add the white wine, tomatoes [strain & add to stock, see below] and chile pepper to the pot and stir well.

[Following the recipe for Jambalaya, strain the tomatoes saving the liquid (add the tomatoes to the pot as in the last step), add the wine to the strained liquid, then the shrimp stock to make 5 cups of liquid total. Add the liquid to the pot and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 30 minutes, checking often to see if the liquid has been absorbed. About 5 minutes before the rice is done, place the shrimp on top of the Perloo mixture, stir through gently and cover with lid. Allow to simmer, until the shrimp are cooked through and pink, about 5-6 minutes, depending on the size/thickness of the shrimp being used. When done, remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Uncover, add the bacon and fluff with a fork.

The following may be the traditional way to make Perloo, more like a Italian risotto, but I find this easier.]

Set up a fine-meshed strainer with a paper towel in it. Ladle two or three ladles of the shrimp stock through this strainer into the rice pot. Stir well. Cook, stirring often, until the liquid is absorbed. Repeat this process until the rice is tender.

Add one more ladle of shrimp stock to the pot, along with the shrimp and the parsley. Mix to combine, cover the pot and turn the heat to its lowest setting. Cover for 5 minutes to let the shrimp cook, then mix in the bacon and black pepper and serve.

Serves 6 people