Smoked Catfish And Potato Pepper Soup

I hate being sick. 😭😭 I hate it even more so during Ramadan. However after I ate some of this soup, I started to feel better.

This is how I made it. I soak the smoked catfish in 1 liter or 1 quart of water overnight in the fridge.

Remember this is a medicinal soup. 😷😭 I’m still trying to get rid of my bronchitis bug.

Next day I drained the fish and seen that skin and bones came right off of this delectible fish. I carefully made sure no small bones was in it also.😋😋😋

After I removed the skin and bones from the fish, I put it back in the fridge and got 3 potatoes,garlic, lemongrass,tamarind, 1 onion or shallot and set aside for use when I need.

If I was using 1 scotch bonnet or habinero then that would be out too, but I chose to use something else and will disclose later on the recipe.

I also soaked 4 pinches of dried bitterleaf in 1 cup of water for 1/2 hour.

I added 3 tbs of palm oil to the pot and chopped 1 onion or shallot to fry until brown. I had the heat on medium high.

I added 2 cloves of garlic and 1 small piece of ginger peeled and chopped. I threw in 3 sprigs of lemongrass, 1 bullion cube I had crumbled, 3 dashes of maggi or knorr aroma, 1 pebble size of tamarind, 1/2 of a tsp of pepper soup spice, the link on the left is my homemade one which is for single use only or use store bought which is up to you, 1/4 tsp of African yellow chili powder and I stirred.

I found this African yellow chili powder at Old World Market here in Chicago.

This spice is very portent so please be careful. You can also use 1 pinch of red chili powder or either use 1 scotch bonet or habinero that has been deseeded and ground with a mortar or finely minced.

I added to the pot 1/2 gallon or 2 liters of water, stirred and brought to boil.

I peeled, washed and quartered 3 potatoes then added them to the pot carefully. I turned down the burner to low heat and set timer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft but not mushy.

Now it has come near the end of cooking. With the potatoes that are tender I can now add the smoked catfish pieces and the bitterleaf I had soaked and cooked it for another 10 minutes.

You can have this with pounded yam, fufu or gari.