FISH – SOOP: Soups Of Our Planet

All posts filed under “FISH”

January 30, 2015

TANZANIA: Curried Banana + Fish Soup (Ndizi na Samaki)

We are BAAAAAACK! Thank you for your patience as we took a month off to explore South America, get and recover from the flu, and take a week long business trip (a few of those things simultaneously). I’ll be getting Peru and Swaziland online asap and we have Cyprus cued up for this weekend.

If you haven’t done so already, please follow me on Facebook where I post news, photos, sneak peaks, new friends, updates, and other soupy things.

Okay, without further ado, here’s what we learned about Tanzania :

Since one of our life goals as a family is to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, we will be visiting Tanzania some day.
As independent countries, Tanzania (and one of its provinces Zanzibar) are both just slightly older than my husband.
Tanzania has 2 different capital cities. Dar Es Salaam is the former capital, but still maintains its place as the capital in the hearts of Tanzanians; Dodoma is the new administrative capital.
Here’s a fun website with lots of food info if you’re keen on cooking more Tanzanian fare
While “Hakuna Matata” is well known to us westerners, the phrase is uncommon among native speakers of Swahili in Tanzania, who prefer the phrase “hamna shida” in the north and “hamna tabu” in the south.
I found this music video out of Tanzania to be a really interesting study of the different classes in the country. Cheesy/romantic, yes… but it’s fascinating to see how the street scenes and lifestyles are depicted.

Finally, Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania, has a thriving street food scene which Anthony Bourdain was kind enough to test out for me until I’m able to get there myself.

THE MEAL:

Although it was quite a different flavor profile than we are used to, this was a winner. It was pretty spicy, which I loved, but I might decrease the spice next time to make it more friendly to sensitive palates. I’d also love to try this with shrimp next time.

Hooray! My parents were here for a visit and joined us in Tanzania. Thumbs up from them!
Papi said beer was the perfect thing to wash it down with!

Curried Banana + Fish Soup (Ndizi na Samaki)
Serves 6

Ingredients

2 lb flaky white fish (I used tilapia)
2 teaspoons fresh black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons peanut oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
8 cups chicken stock
1 15oz can chopped tomatoes
1 cup unsweetened dried coconut
2 ripe bananas, sliced into 1/2 inch chunks
Cooked white rice and cilantro, optional

Instructions

Season tilapia with fresh black pepper and salt.
In a large soup pot, heat oil and saute onions until translucent and tender.
Add garlic, curry powder, and red pepper flakes and fry for 2 more minutes.
Add the fish, stock, tomatoes and coconut, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes – stirring occasionally to break up fish into large chunks.
Add banana and simmer 10 additional minutes.
When ready to serve, ladle into bowls over white rice and garnish with cilantro for a bit of color if desired.

Cook’s Notes

This is relatively spicy as prepared with the full 1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes. The boys both said they would have liked it if it hadn’t be so spicy. If you’re making this for kids, you could just omit the red pepper and allow people to add it to their bowls if they want a bit of a kick.

November 23, 2014

comment 0

JAPAN: Toshikoshi – Soba Noodle Soup 年越しそば

Here’s what we learned about Japan in our research this week:

Buckwheat noodles (soba) are traditionally eaten in Japan at midnight on New Year’s eve. According to wikipedia, “the tradition started around Edo period (1603-1867) and there are several theories believed that long soba noodles symbolize a long life.”
A recent study revealed that approximately 50% of Japanese citizens eat toshikoshi soba on New Year’s eve.
While buckwheat is gluten free, many soba noodles are made with both buckwheat and regular wheat. Check the packages carefully to find 100% buckwheat noodles if you eat gluten-free.

Here is a fun video showing you how easy toshikoshi soba is to make and how fun it is to say.

THE MEAL:

Remember back when Beckett chose Nsusu and Fufu because he could run around yelling those two words at the top of his lungs? Anyone want to guess why we made toshikoshi soba this week?

That only went on for 20 minutes or so. No idea why schnitzel was part of his chant. Anyway, our first attempt at toshikoshi soba was a complete flop and rendered utterly inedible due to the insane amounts of salt. Luckily, we had also made sushi and, since Dungeness crab season just started, a cucumber crab salad, so we didn’t go hungry. Plus, our friends arrived with fun Japanese sodas that had the kids so entranced, they barely noticed the food at all.Refusing to accept defeat, I retooled the recipe and nailed it this morning. The fun part of toshikoshi is that you can add whatever floats your boat to the soup. The first night (pictured here) included some leftover pork loin we had in the fridge, enoki mushrooms, and fish cakes. This morning, we used shiitake mushrooms, spinach, and eggs (pictured at the bottom of this post). The most important part of this soup is the broth and the noodles – the rest is just fun creation. If you have kids who aren’t so sure about trying new “ethnic” foods, a nice way to introduce them to Japanese food might be to make toshikoshi and allow them to put in whatever toppings they would like (like taco night only with Japanese soup!).

Toshikoshi – Soba Noodle Soup 年越しそば
Serves 4

Ingredients

8 cups water
1 oz sliced dried shiitake mushrooms
2 teaspoons HonDashi bonito soup stock granules *
1/2 cup tamari (gluten free soy sauce)
1/2 cup mirin
1 tablespoon sugar (more to taste)
200g package soba 100% buckwheat noodles
2 large handfuls baby spinach leaves, optional
2 eggs, soft boiled, peeled and cut in half lengthwise, optional
4 green onions, sliced thin
1 package Enoki mushrooms, ends trimmed and separated, optional
6 ounce log fish cake, sliced into thin half moons, optional **
Cooked pork loin slices, optional
Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese pepper spice)

Instructions

In a large soup pot, bring water, shiitake mushrooms, and HonDashi to a boil. Add tamari, mirin, and sugar. Reduce heat to simmer and cover.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the soba noodles and cook until al dente – approximately 8 minutes. Drain noodles and rinse well under cold water to remove any excess starch.
While noodles cook, prepare all garnishes.
Prepare bowls by adding noodles and garnishes to bowls.
Add spinach to broth and cook until wilted. Gently ladle spinach and broth onto noodles and garnishes. Serve with Shichimi Mogarashi if you like things spicy.

Cook’s Notes

* HonDashi is a flavor additive that contains fish and msg among other things and gives a very rich umami flavor. You can make your own dashi if you prefer or you can substitute the dashi with salt.

** Many types of Japanese fish cakes contain gluten. Be sure to read the packages carefully.

November 10, 2014

comment 0

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Curried Coconut and Lime Gourd Soup

Here’s what we learned about the Solomon Islands in our research this week:

There are around 1000 islands that make up the country and over 70 unique languages spoken.
It is believed that people have lived on the Solomon Islands for over 4000 years.
Due to global warming, the sea level in the Solomon Islands has been rising by eight millimetres per year compared to the global average of 2.8 to 3.6 mm
The Solomon Islands gained independence from Britain in 1978 – making the country younger than me.
While very dark skinned, 5-10% of Solomon Islanders carry a gene for blond hair!
I really want to go there someday.

photo from http://www.longboard.com.au

THE MEAL:

There is precious little to be found about soups from the Solomon Islands online. I tried reaching out to resorts on the islands for guidance, but finally found what I was looking for by browsing the online menus of the various restaurants of the many resorts on the islands. I saw a few soups repeated – vegetable curry and pumpkin curry – so I ran with that idea.

Since everything I could find about the cuisine of the Solomon Islands talked about fish, fish, and more fish, I used fish stock in my soup, but this could be vegan by using vegetable stock. The real key to this soup is the Madras curry powder (which also happens to be SUPER good on popcorn). I found it at Safeway, so I’m guessing it should be pretty easy to find. It contains salt, so if you use a different curry powder, you’ll probably want to add some salt to your soup.

So, I worked sans sous chef today. Here’s the math:

Sleepover + Sensitive/temperamental child= Sleep-deprived grumpy kid
Sleep-deprived grumpy kid + Homework packets = Epic battle
Epic battle + First time trying out the word “sucks” = Banishment to room until said homework packets were completed and a reflection about the kind of language we use in our family was written
Banishment to room until said homework packets were completed and a reflection about the kind of language we use in our family was written + Need to make/eat soup = No sous chef

He did, however, manage to smile just once yesterday… but only because I told him to do so and (for the only time yesterday) he did what I asked. That smile, while it looks so genuine, disappeared immediately when I put down the camera and the “you’re the meanest mom in the world” routine continued. Sigh. His big brother, on the other hand, was thrilled with flying under the radar for the day, but not so thrilled with the soup. As he put it, “Mama, I’m just not a gourd guy.” Duly noted.

Okay, so parenting challenges aside, I thought this was outstanding. By using Trader Joes’ pre-cut & pre-peeled butternut squash cubes the hardest part of this soup was mincing all the shallots & the ginger. If I wanted to REALLY wanted to speed this up, I could use my mini food processor and throw everything in there to mince and this recipe would REALLY be a snap. This took about 30 minutes from start to finish and hit every mark for me – comforting, bright flavors, ever so slightly spicy, healthy, quick, easy and unique. We served it garnished with jalapeño and basil with grilled fish and jasmine rice on the side. I could eat this for lunch every day and be a happy, happy camper.

Curried Coconut and Lime Gourd Soup
Serves 8

Ingredients

2 tablespoons canola (or other neutral) oil
1 cup shallots, chopped (approximately 4 large shallots)
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 lbs butternut squash, pumpkin, or other orange fleshed gourd, peeled and chopped*
4 cups fish stock or vegetable
2 cups water
3 tablespoons Madras curry powder*
1 can light coconut milk
juice of one lime

Instructions

Warm the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the shallots and cool until softened- approximately 3 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and cook until fragrant being very careful not to allow the garlic to burn – approximately 1 minute.
Add the gourd, stock, and water and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat, cover, and simmer until the gourd is tender when pierced with a fork – approximately 30 minutes.
When gourd is tender, using a blender, food processor, or immersion blender puree soup until smooth.
Stir in curry powder, coconut milk and lime juice. Adjust seasoning – adding more salt if necessary – and serve topped with cilantro leaves, basil leaves, jalapeño slices or anything green and pretty.

Cook’s Notes

Trader Joes carries butternut squash already peeled and chopped into 1″ cubes. Crazy convenient.

Madras curry has salt added to it. If you use a different type of curry powder, you will need to add salt to your soup.