Interesting Mexican Shrimp Dish

I ate lunch today at my favorite Mexican taqueria. When I walked in Luis, the head cook, greeted me. Unfortunately, my Spanish is even more limited than his English. Luis pointed to a dish and I was able to ascertain that it was a shrimp dish but the large pieces didn't look like shrimp. I decided to try it. The dish was very good, but it looked like ground shrimp patties, that were simmered in a nice spicy red sauce with a few jalapeno strips. Visually the "shrimp cakes" looked like round sponges inside. I even found a couple of shrimp legs that didn't make it through the grinder.

Does anyone have an idea of what this dish is called?

Tortitas de camaron -- it's one of the main Lenten dishes, so no wonder they had it this Friday!

Those were probably tortitas de camaron, made with dried shrimp and eggs. It's possible the strips were chiles but more likely they were nopales (cactus). This is a dish often served during Lent. Have a look at Especiales de Cuaresma.

Thanks for the information and links. That is what makes LTH Forum so great. The wealth of knowledge shared freely. I really enjoy this restaurant but I do have trouble communicating with them. One of the reasons I went was to see if they had any seafood specials today (Shrimp soup is excellent). Since my wife is Catholic I have to remember about the Friday fish day. We decided earlier this morning that since we are both burnt out from the week and I don't like to cook fish in a hurry that we are going out to dinner for the rest of Lent. I was hoping they had a big pot of the Shrimp soup so I could take my wife. Mary is not very adventurous with food and spices, she probably wouldn't like tortitas de camaron, but would the shrimp.

I guess tonight it's off to Pete's Patio in Niles, MI for dinner tonight. The homemade Italian sausage is outstanding. Interestingly, my wife just called and suggested Pete's too. I have been considering them throughout the day as a good choice.

Last year during the first Jolietathon, tortitas de Camaron, was one of the dishes served at Amanacer Tapatio. If I remember correctly we were there in a Friday during lent. They were served in a spicy red sauce with nopales. Truly a deep and flavorful item. I'll see if I can link to the post.