This is a super rich soup with a coconut milk base. I made it on the fly and it turned out AWESOME! I had a small bag of salad shrimp and a bag of Kroger frozen Cod in the freezer, so that’s what I used. Use whatever you’ve got. [Updated July 2018. This is the final recipe, it is really great. Enjoy!] This recipe is pescatarian if you use fish stock.
Curried Seafood Soup
1# cod (or other dense white fish), 1″ cubes
8 oz small shrimp (or any kind of shrimp, cleaned)
1 med onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 carrot, thinly sliced on the bias
1/2 pound mushrooms, diced
1 serrano or jalapeno chile, finely chopped (optional, I liked the zip of the serrano)
olive oil
1 Tbl all purpose red curry paste (Sub 2 Tbl curry powder, omit turmeric)
1 tsp turmeric
1 Tbl Thai Spicy Sour Coconut paste (optional, find it at Asian markets)
1/2 tsp dried cilantro
1/2 tsp white pepper
S/P
1.5 cups chicken stock or fish stock
1 lg can coconut milk (not sweetened)
3/4 cup red lentils
zest and juice of one lime
1/2 tsp garlic oil (optional, you can find in Asian stores)
1 Tbl soy sauce or memmi if you have it
1 Tbl Chinese cooking sherry (or regular dry or cooking sherry)
2 Tbl fish sauce
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
2 scallions, cut thinly on bias
sour cream or greek yogurt for serving (optional)
Cover bottom of wide soup pot with olive oil over med hi heat and add onion, carrots, garlic, serrano and mushrooms to sweat. Watch heat, you don’t want the onions/garlic to burn or brown. Add pastes, dry spices and lime zest, stir. When veg have softened, add the seafood and stir for a couple of minutes. Add chicken stock, coconut milk and lentils, stir. Add garlic oil, soy sauce, sherry and fish sauce. Simmer soup for about 10 minutes to cook the fish, check seasonings. Before serving, stir in fresh cilantro and scallions (reserve a little of each for garnish) and the juice of the lime. Adjust salt as necessary.
Serve in large bowl with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt and fresh cilantro/scallions.