Seafood Tomato Pepper soup

Seafood Tomato Pepper Soup brings to your table the tangy tomato juice taste, sweet onion taste and the hotness of pepper because the rainy season has commenced in Nigeria. Well you might say but other parts of the world are experiencing summer with the attendant heat. Yes that is true but generally dishes like my Seafood Tomato Pepper soup can serve as a light meal. The degree of spiciness can be adjusted to suit your weather wherever you are located

My experience with buying live crabs has been different for each occasion. When I have much time of my hands I will ask the crabs sellers to dress them for me . But sometimes I I simply do not have the luxury of time to hang out in the market especially if its raining. This was the case for my last purchase. I just could not summon up the courage to get the crabs out of the bag to dress. I had to keep them in the freezer to die gradually or at least be less active before I could handle them. The freezer treatment actually did work.  What other food item would you prefer to treat in the market?

Well lets move back to the inspiration for this dish besides the rains and its low carbohydrate and rich protein benefits.  In recent times I have switched to boiling my pepper, tomato and onion whole before blending. The texture of this vegetable blend is so good. Your stews definitely takes on a new texture. The real deal when you boil these vegetable whole is that they release a lot of their juice without you boiling them with water. it is this tomato, pepper and onion JUICE that I used for the pepper soup.  the strong tomato flavour and the tarty taste which I like in seafood is what the hype is all about.

This Seafood Tomato Pepper Soup is not the same as the Ghanaian light soup which is cooked with the tomato pulp and then lightened up with water . This dish is cooked with tomato, pepper and onion JUICE. The addition on African nut meg gives it that homey flavour . Okay let me stop now and go straight to the recipe.

 

Recipe for Seafood Tomato Pepper Soup

1 Tilapia fish ( cut into desired pieces)

4-6 pieces fresh Prawns( whole or dressed

2 pieces Crab(dressed)

4 pieces large Tomato

1 medium size Onion

2-4 Scotch Bonnet Pepper( or to taste)

2 pieces African nut meg( peeled and ground)

Crayfish or Beef Seasoning cube to taste

Salt to taste

 

Method

1, Cut up the vegetables into large chunks and bring to boil. You may have to sprinkle very little water at the base of the pot to get the vegetables boiling.

2, When the vegetables have started softening they will release their JUICE. Allow the vegetables to release all the juice, turn off the heat allow to cool a bit and strain the juice into a pot. You may want to get your juice a couple of days before cooking the soup. Blend your vegetable normally and keep for making stew.

3, Add a little more water if the vegetable juice will not be enough for two people. Bring the juice to the boil

4, Add the seasoning and african nut meg. Boil till the stock is well cooked. put off the heat and allow the stock to cool a bit.

5, Add the seafood, shake the pot and allow the fish, shrimp and crab to marinade in the juice for about 15- 20 minutes.

6, Turn back the heat and cook the seafood under low heat until soft and cooked. You will find that at this stage the soup itself becomes tastier. The seafood flavor has been released. You may now wish to correct with salt if you want. Using seasonings these days I actually do lessor no salt.

7, Serve your Seafood Tomato Pepper Soup warm or hot. A nice glass of chilled drink could be interesting as a treat to accompany your soup.