This seafood soup with potatoes was inspired by the Yoruba fresh fish soup, from the south western part of Nigeria. The addition of basil and thyme worked very well with the delicate taste of the white fish to give a taste that was out of this world. This soup is perfect for a starter. The addition of potatoes to the dish makes it more filling and suitable to serve as a meal on its own.
Jump to RecipeSoup Or Chowder?
A friend suggested to me that I call this a chowder instead of a soup, which leads to the question; What is the difference between a soup and a chowder?
Well, soups are liquid based dishes, which come in different textures and consistencies, and chowder is a type of soup. Chowder was originally used to refer to thick soup with chunky seafood. It is now commonly used to describe soup which has been thickened with flour and potato; and finished with cream and milk.
Does Fish/Seafood Soup Help A Cold?
The Yoruba fresh fish soup is typically very hot. It is believed to be good for a cold, and I have many memories of running nose both from the cold and the heat of the fish soup my mum believed would make my cold better; and somehow, it worked.
One of the reasons for that is because the soup is liquid based, which makes it easy to eat when you don’t feel like swallowing anything; the hydration also helps. The other reason is that chilli pepper has a component called capsaicin, which is responsible for the heat. Capsaicin helps to loosen phlegm and clear the throat. It also helps to clear stuffy nose, which is why we get runny nose when we eat spicy hot food.
How To Make Seafood Soup
This recipe is easy to make, and you can adapt it to suit whatever you have available at home, I used frozen cod fillets, but you can use any white fish; you can also use other seafoods types. If you like it spicy, you can add more chilli peppers. If you don’t have fish stock, you can use water with a good bouillon cube, which doesn’t have monosodium glutamate.
You can freeze this soup as the fish and seafood freeze really well. You just have to make sure that you allow to defrost totally, and re-heat gently to stop the prawns from becoming tough.
Seafood Soup
Ingredients
- 2 Oil
- 1 Onion chopped
- 3 cloves Garlic chopped
- 1 Chilli pepper sliced thinly
- 1 teaspoon Paprika
- 2 fillets Frozen Cod defrosted and cut into smaller pieces
- 150 grams Frozen Prawns defrosted
- 1 cup Fish stock
- 200 grams Tomato puree
- 2 Potato cut into cubes
- 1 handful Fresh thyme chopped
- Salt
- 1 handful Basil chopped
Instructions
- Allow the fish and prawns to defrost
- Heat the oil in a pan under medium heat.
- Cook the onions in the oil until soft and translucent.
- Pour in the garlic, chilli pepper and paprika, and stir continuously for 1 min.
- Add the fish, prawns and potatoes and stir for a few seconds to allow the spices to coat.
- Pour the fish stock and the tomato puree in, then add the thyme, and some salt to taste.
- Cover the pan and allow the content to cook for around 15 mins
- Stir in the basil and remove the pot from heat.
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