When it comes to Easter most people think of the main Easter Sunday meal, and maybe treats and chocolates for children on Easter Monday. However, Easter is a season, stretching from Good Friday through to the secular festivities of Easter Monday. In many cultures fish is eaten for the main meal on Easter Friday and here I present a West African pepper soup for that meal. It’s traditional also to have a bitter dish as a scourge on that day; the pepper in the pepper soup serves that function in this dish.
Now, this is not an authentic pepper soup, and it does not originate in any West African country or culture. Rather, it’s based a little on the French influence in Senegalese cookery and with spices that are fairly easily attainable anywhere. As such, this should be labelled as an African Fusion dish (it’s no less tasty because of that). I’m suggesting 3 chillies in this recipe, which would be authentic. Two to be chopped (you can reduce this to ½ a chilli for a milder pepper soup). Add the other chilli whole, as this will flavour the dish without adding heat. It’s up to you if you want to mash this one cooked and then return to the stew for even more heat.
Prep time 10 minutes/Cook time 25 minutes/serves 4-5
Ingredients:
1kg (2-2½ lbs) firm white fish cut in desired pieces (catfish would be traditional, but tilapia also works well
3-4 garlic cloves minced
3 habanero or scotch bonnet chillies, (2 finely chopped, 1 kept whole)
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 dried bay leaf
1 tbsp smoked paprika (this is a substitute for the smoked dried fish and smoked dried prawns traditionally used)
2 tbsp or more finely diced celery
2 tbsp finely diced carrot
½ medium onion finely diced
1 teaspoon white pepper
3-4 basil leaves chopped (holy basil for preference)
1-2 spring onions, chopped
Sea salt to taste
1-2 teaspoon bouillon powder or 2 small stock cubes (prawn or fish for preference)
Method:
Place a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add 2 tbsp of oil and when hot add the garlic, ginger, bay leaf, paprika and chopped chillies. Fry, stirring occasionally for about 1 minute.
Add the onions, celery, carrot, white pepper, spring onions, bouillon powder and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Now pour in 1l (4 cups) water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, add the whole chilli and cook for 10 minutes before adding the fish and basil. Season with salt to taste and continue cooking for about 10 minutes more, or until the fish is cooked through (time will vary depending on the thickness of your fish pieces).
Adjust the seasonings, the thickness of the soup (for a thicker soup add 1 tsp arrowroot blended to a slurry with 1 tbsp water). Remove the whole chilli at this point. You can discard this, but if you want an even hotter soup, mash the chilli and return to the soup.
Remove and discard the bayleaf and serve with boiled green plantains or green bananas or rice. It can also be served by itself.
