Brazilian Shrimp Soup

Winter is still in full blast here in Beijing. It's dry, cold, windy, and all I want to do is stay indoors until winter goes away. I even went to weather.com and looked at the temperature averages for March. It will most likely be ten degrees warmer by the end of the month, in case you're wondering...yay. For now, I'll continue to hibernate in our warm apartment, on the couch, under a blanket, with a nice bowl of steamy hot soup in my lap. 

This soup was "souper" (heh..had to do it). Seriously though, it was delicious. Before making it, I was a little worried about the addition of coconut milk. I adore coconut, but I much prefer it in sweets then in savory dishes. Nevertheless, I gave this a go, and thought the addition of coconut was wonderful. It was very subtle, and worked great with the other flavors. 

The picture at the top of this post is some of the leftovers the next day. When we ate it for dinner the night before, it was much more soupy (pictured below), and honestly, a whole lot better. Sadly, I wasn't slurping my bowl clean as I did the night before. Soup usually tastes better the next day, but this was just a little off. If you plan on making this, try and make just enough (this recipe yielded about 6-8 servings).

The original recipe page says that in Brazil, they would add okra to this soup, but because this recipe is already so satisfyingly thick, there's no need. I was very tempted to add the okra, but during the last second, decided not to. Fresh from the pot, it really is the perfect consistency. If you don't have shrimp, you could also add a pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts (about three), cut crosswise into quarter-inch strips. The cooking time is the same. Bottom line: this soup was outstanding, and I'll definitely be making it again, though only enough for one meal. 

Brazilian Shrimp Soup

Seen on several cooking blogs, all adapted from Food and Wine

Ingredients

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1 onion, chopped (I used red)

1 green bell pepper (I used yellow)

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup long grain rice

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

1 3/4 cups canned crushed tomatoes in thick puree (I used one whole 15 ounce can diced tomatoes)

5 cups water

1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk

1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, shelled

1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped

Directions

In a large pot, heat the oil over moderately low heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to soften, about 10 minutes.

Add the rice, red-pepper flakes, salt, tomatoes, and water to the pot. Bring to a boil and cook until the rice is almost tender, about 10 minutes.

Stir the coconut milk into the soup. Bring back to a simmer and then stir in the shrimp. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are just done, 3-5 minutes. Stir in the black pepper, lemon juice, and parsley or cilantro.