09 August 2011

Zucchini soup


I haven’t been feeling too hot these days and unfortunately it is not the weather. Something has upset my stomach since Saturday evening and I am still not feeling 100%. I haven’t had this before and it really annoys me because it takes away my cooking mood. How can you think of food if your stomach is screaming louder? So no cooking or experimenting for me till everything calmed down.

Lucky me I’ve already made some pictures for this delish zucchini soup I made way back. It is super simple but sooo good.

All you need is some raw shrimps and 1 or 2 zucchinis. And to finish it off some coriander and some spring onion.

I always keep a bag of frozen headless raw shrimp in my freezer so I have it at hand every time I need it. For this soup I only needed a couple, but you can use a much or as little as you want.
I defrosted them first and then pealed and deveined them and put the shell aside for the broth later. Since I don’t have a food processor I have to chop my shrimps by hand. I lined them up and sprinkled some salt, pepper, garlic powder and some drops sesame oil on top. Then it was chop, chop till you get a nice chunky shrimp paste.
In a pot I boiled some water and normally I would season the water, but not this time. The seasoning is in the shrimp and as I don’t know how the water would taste I’d rather wait till the shrimp is in. First the shrimp shells went in. Then after boiling for a couple of minutes I’d removed the shells. Make sure you keep the water. It’s ok to skip this step, because the shrimps will give you plenty of flavor, but I like to use a much as I can and this just takes little effort.

I put the shrimp paste in a big serving spoon and submerged it in the boiling water. I used my chopsticks to break them apart, but a fork will do the trick as well. I want to break it down in big/small junks of shrimp.
After boiling the shrimps for a while I seasoned the soup with some salt and pepper. I chopped some zucchini and added that to the broth. I didn’t peal the zucchini because I like the contrast in color. But I noticed that if your zucchini is slightly old it is better to peal the skin off first. It tent to be slightly bitter.
I cooked everything till the zucchini was soft and at the every end I added some chopped coriander and spring onion.
This is exactly the way my mom makes this soup and it is soo good with some simple white rice.

Ps: whoever is allergic for seafood can substitute the shrimp for chicken or even pork. It will taste awesome as well.

9 comments:

  1. I have so much zucchini around and this sound like a great way to use some of it. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Lilly, so sorry you still have that stomach bug but I hope you get well soon. This zucchini soup looks utterly delicious! And I like the flavor the shrimp brings as well as the fact that you left your zucchini unpeeled. Absolutely delightful :-).

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  3. Lilly - I hope you feel better. This looks like such a light, tasty soup! Thanks for putting in a substitution for seafood....I'm one of those allergic.

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  4. I hope you feel better! I've never seen a soup like this - but it sounds perfect for the summer, and I hope it fights whatever bug you've got =)

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  5. Thanks for all the wishes. I finally feel better and ready to rock!

    Ann I saw your msg that you are allergic to seafood. I love seafood and I can imagine not being able to eat it. Luckily there are some great substitutions for it.

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  6. Ay.. I didn't know you were sick Lilly! My daughter is okay now and she went to school today. I hope you get well soon. This zucchini soup with shrimp is a very clever idea and I am keeping the recipe. Very light and perfect for side dish!

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  7. Hi Lilly ^,^ this in my fave soup during summer, with hot steamed rice, sometimes, I mix it with spinach too :) thx for sharing

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  8. What a fabulous healthy dish, looks amazing!! :)

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  9. Lilly, this zucchini soup sounds delicious and the picture looks tempting! Thanks for sharing the recipe.

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