Fish Pepper Soup
This is one of my favorite African recipes. I make this fish pepper soup fairly often and it is always different, which is great. One thing that changes is the spice powder. The base is always smoked paprika, white pepper, and bouillon. There are multiple additional spices that can be added to the powder including fennel, cumin, coriander, allspice, curry powder, njangsa, alligator pepper, African nutmeg, lemongrass, etc. That is really up to you. The other other thing that changes is whether or not I sauté the rest of the ingredients chopped or turned into a paste in the food processor. If you want your soup chunkier, don’t turn the ingredients into a paste. I like to use king fish for this soup. It’s inexpensive, flavorful, and very meaty for fish. Other fish that you can use include catfish, tilapia, cod, swai, snapper, or mackerel. You can either cut up your fish into smaller pieces if you’re using a fillet. I chose to keep my king fish steaks whole so I can serve 1 per person.Serve the soup with steamed rice or boiled plantains.
Servings: 4
Equipment
- Spice grinder
- food processor
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 lbs king fish steaks
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 habanero
- 1 tbsp ginger grated
- 1 stalk celery finely chopped
- 1/2 medium onion diced
- 6 basil leaves chopped
- 2 green onions chopped
- 4 cups water
- 1 bay leaf
- salt to taste
Spice Powder
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp white peppercorns
- 2 tsp chicken bouillon
Optional Spices
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp njangsa
Instructions
- Grind the fennel, cumin, njangsa, white and black peppercorns in a spice grinder. Mix them with the smoked paprika, and chicken bouillon. Set aside.
- Blend the onions, garlic, ginger, habanero, green onions, celery, and basil in a food processor until it is almost a paste.
- Heat up cooking oil in a large pot over medium heat. Fry the paste for 5-6 minutes.
- Add the spice powder mix. Fry for a minute.
- Pour in 4 cups of water. Add the bay leaf. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt.
- Add in the fish steaks. Simmer for another 10 minutes until they are cooked through.
