Fish Soup

Soup as a meal is something that I acquired as an adult. Soup is not something that you will typically be served in most Zimbabwean homes. Whenever I make soup for my mom she will eat it but I know its not something that she will go out of her way to cook. My husband and son will sometimes eat it, so this is something I do for myself.

I made this soup last night and it is so good I decided to share it. I actually pictured the leftovers which will be my lunch today. This is the kind of recipe I like to share because it uses grocery staples, mostly vegetables. At least they are staples to me, onions, garlic, ginger, carrots, celery and a few herbs and spices.

My dad hates garlic! I know! Who hates garlic? Like seriously. I believe at some point in his youth someone served him raw garlic and he decided to hate it. So growing up we never used garlic at home and I now cannot cook without it.

Anyway, this recipe is super easy and fast. I used tilapia fillets but I think other fish like salmon or hake would work just fine.

There are two ingredients that I used that I know may be difficult to find in some places, that is, fish sauce and pepper cream. Especially now with the lockdowns, I know my sister would not find them. These two ingredients add flavour to the soup but I don’t think omitting them would break the recipe. Plus I would never encourage you to buy an ingredient to use in one recipe. I do use these ingredients a lot in fried rice and other recipes from Asia.

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Fish Soup

Course Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup Onion chopped
• 1 Carrot chopped
• 2 Celery stalks chopped
• 1 tablespoon Garlic crushed
• 1 teaspoon Ginger chopped
• 3 sprig Thyme
• 1 teaspoon Italian Pepper Cream optional or use crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon Fish Sauce
• 1 Potato chopped
• 4 cups Chicken or Fish Stock
• 1/2 lb Tilapia Fillet cut into chunks
• Salt to taste
• Pepper

Instructions

1. In a large stockpot on medium heat add the oil. Saute onion, carrots and celery for about 2 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and saute for another 30 seconds.

2. Add the thyme, pepper cream, fish sauce, potato and chicken stock. Bring to a boil.

3. Add the fish and cook uncovered for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper as desired.

4. Serve warm with some garlic bread.