Yam and Catfish Peppersoup with Prawns via Dooneyskitchen

Culturally, it is said to be medicinal for women who have just given birth as the spices, herbs and peppers help cleanse the body.

Ingredients

1 whole catfish – cut into 5 pieces

1 heaped tablespoon of ground Pepper soup spices

3 pieces of Ata Rodo – scotch bonnet/habanero pepper

1 pound of deveined Prawns

1 handful of Efinrin/basil leaves

1 small red onion

1 teaspoon of onion granules/powder

Cubed raw yams – about 10 pieces

This is really spicy pepper soup. It is best enjoyed this way, but you can reduce the number of pieces of Ata Rodo that you put in it to reduce the heat

Preparation time: 10 minutes and cooking time is approximately 15 minutes

Preparations:

Clean the fish properly, rinse the prawns and set aside. Roughly blend 2 pieces of Ata Rodo (use a hand blender or pound using a small mortar and pestle as it is just 2 piece). Chop the red onion and 1 piece of ata rodo and set aside. Chop the efinrin/basil leaves and set aside .

Put the fish in a deep saucepan and add 3 cups of water, the chopped red onion and ata rodo, 1-heaped tablespoon of spices, and the blended ata rodo. I used a combination of blended and chopped ata rodo for two reasons. 1. The blended ata rodo will colour the water slightly, while the chopped ata rodo is for aesthetics to match the chopped efinrin leaves.

Let this boil for 10 minutes on low heat. Remember to cook catfish on low heat to allow for the spices to seep into the fish slowly and combine the flavour of the catfish beautifully. Intense heat destroys the flavour of the fish. While the fish is cooking, boil the cubes of yam under high heat, for the same amount of time.

Ensure that you cook both simultaneously, so that the soup will be ready to receive the boiled yam. Add the prawns and let it cook for 3 minutes. Prawns cook pretty fast, and heat also destroys the flavour, so you add prawns towards the tail end of cooking so it releases its juices just in time to combine with the rest of the soup.

Watch the prawns change colour from grey to pink

Add the chopped efinrin/basil leaves, stir by shaking the saucepan in circular motions. Do NOT stir with a cooking spoon. Let the vegetables cook in the soup for 2 – 3 minutes to release their essence into the soup.

Add the yam slices one by one, and discard the water it boiled in. Turn off the heat, and simply let the yam sit in the soup for a while.

To really enjoy peppersoup, let it sit on the cooker till it gets lukewarm/cold. Then re-heat it under very low heat. Trust me the difference in taste from the time it was initially cooked, and after being re-heated is very noticeable.