Homemade Tilapia Soup / A Traditional Fish Soup Recipe / Ndudu by Fafa

Hello again and welcome to Ndudubai Fafa. Hello everyone, thank you again for joining me. My name is Fafa Gilbert and I am the chef for Ndudubai Fafa. I love creative African cooking and I love adding my own twist. This is the channel you really want to be on. Now today on the menu... And today on the menu I do have the ever so classic and delicious tilapia soup or fish soup depending on what fish you prefer to use for this. But this is a must try recipe and it's absolutely delicious especially now that the weather's a little bit on the chilly side. It's a must try. And here you have the list of ingredients that you will need to make this delicious soup. You can find the transcript as well as the list of ingredients and measurements on my blog ndudubaifafa.blogspot.com. You will find equally inspiring recipes on my blog as well so do check it out. Let's start cooking. So here I do have my tilapia and I'm actually taking the fins and the gills off. You can get your fishmonger to actually gut the fish and also do the dressing for you. They did do that but I left the gills and fins and I'm actually just using the scissors to get rid of that because I just think it's unsightly and I don't particularly like that in my soup. So I'm taking all those things off and now that my fish is ready I'm actually just going to cut it into four little beautiful sizes and I'm going to start making my soup. This is an easy and straightforward soup to make. All you do need are the ingredients you know to add that flavor to it. Now naturally because the tilapia is actually frozen I need to spice it as well. So I have got my classic ingredients here. I've got my ginger, my habanero chili and the seed and an onion. I'm going to blend everything together and I'm actually going to be using half of that to marinate my fish whilst I actually prepare my stew. Now the reason why I'm actually marinating my fish first is because it's frozen fish it's not as fresh as you would get back home in Ghana where it's like freshly cut and the flavor alone is just incredible. So I like to do this especially with frozen fish just to actually add that little flavor to it and also just to revive it a little bit. So that's why I'm actually doing this. So whilst my fish is marinating I'm going to start with the soup. So I've just added some vegetable oil to a pan on a medium heat and I'm actually scooping two tablespoons full of my ginger blend which has my ginger, habanero chili, onion as well as aniseed and I'm frying this gently just for about a minute. This is to allow the flavors to infuse into the oils and then after that I'm actually going to add my tomato paste yet again I'm actually infusing with flavors. So I'm frying the tomato paste usually you notice that I add a little bit of water but no I've opted out of that today because it's like a shabu shabu soup really. So I'm actually just frying that mixture together so that it's actually thicker obviously it's a little bit thick but it will be thick and it would be fried and you can see that the oil just starts to separate then I know that my mixture is actually ready for me to add my blended tomatoes. So I made this dish midweek and the reason why I could was because I'd actually pre-blended my tomatoes earlier on in the week and I actually boiled it so that it became a little bit thicker so I had to reduce the water content. So that's a very good tip for you to actually do as well you can reserve it in the freezer or you can reserve it in the fridge and use it as and when a recipe does require tomatoes. So this I'm going to scoop a little bit of that to my tomato paste mixture right now and cook this further so this is cutting the cooking time in half really. So at this point mix everything together and fry gently for about two to three minutes this is just to warm up the tomatoes and as well as allow some infusion to take place. So at this point you do have a flavor packed thick sauce which is just perfect as a base for your soup. Now what I'm actually going to do is add my tilapia pieces at this stage so bearing in mind I'd also marinated the tilapia in my marinade of aniseed, ginger, habanero, chili and onion. So now I'm actually just adding the tomatoes and I'm just going to gently fry it just for about a minute. It's yet again to allow this infusion to take place because that's all this is about when you're cooking is about infusion is to allow the infusion to take place naturally. So cooking on a low to medium heat is paramount so you don't overcook things you cook it just perfectly so the flavors are just perfect. That's how it works. So at this point you can use fish stock which is imperative. What I've actually done is just rinsed the plates that actually had the marinated tilapia in so that whole flavor is actually just coming through and I have got my fish stock here which is packed with flavors and I'm actually just adding that to it so I'm actually literally making my soup this is how easy this is you know. You can find fish stock from your local fishmongers alternatively when they do fillet your fish you can ask them to reserve the bones for you and you can actually just take it home obviously and you just boil it. Boil it for about five minutes and leave it to simmer for about two minutes. You can add a little bit of onions, some ginger, a little bit of aniseed and just leave it to just infuse and that's it that that's how easy it is to actually make your fish stock so do try that. So at this point I think I'm actually going to add a little bit more of my fish stock because I just want I don't want it to be too light I need just perfectly thick but not too thick either so the consistency is also one that you know it's easy for you to have with your bangku. So I would say double cream consistency is the best option. So we're almost there now with our soup and I'm going to leave it to simmer so yet again on a medium heat and I'm going to allow this beautiful mixture to just simmer gently for another seven to eight minutes. This is yet again to allow some infusion to take place this is just going to be incredible. So of course I'm going to trap in that steam and so you do cover with it's lid and um yeah it looks like it's boiling just perfectly. This other stage has just got about another two minutes and it's almost done. This is what I'm going to be adding my shenanigans. What did you think that was it? Nah! So now I'm actually going to be adding my petit bell chilies or bakushito as it's known and to it of course for the garnish for the flavor as well you know and it just looks beautiful and I'm just going to stir this. Now the reason why this soup is actually quite straightforward and easy to make was because you know I cut that cooking time in half by pre-boiling the tomatoes so at this point I'm just going to add my salt to taste and now salt the amount of salt you add is to your personal preference. I don't like too much salt so you'll notice that I actually do limit the amount of salt I use in my dishes but you can include more. Now of course when it's almost done this is where I'm actually reviving the freshness of that flavor by slicing some onions and they're beautiful and chunky and also this also thickens the soup up so if let's say by you know if you're thinking about it a little bit too much water or your stock you know this is actually a good trick to actually have. You can actually just add a whole onion steam it and then you can blend it and that would be a perfect thickness. Now of course I'm actually adding my basil for that beautiful scented soup so tomatoes and basil they're always best friends and of course I want them to you know get engaged and married into this pot again. Now you can see what I mean by the shenanigans so I'm just I'm just you know warming everything through so I'm just going to and guess what my soup is ready so you can find the recipe for the amogble or let's say bangku they're slightly different um on one of my previous videos so do check it out and just make that to accompany this soup alternatively just get some nice crusty bread and just eat it with it or better still that translation sometimes can be so difficult but anyway what I'm saying is you can enjoy it just like this you can have it with your favorite carbohydrate um well you know you can also have some crusty bread. Now whatever you do bland food should not be part of it you can't be following this channel and eating anything bland no no no no no I hope you've actually enjoyed this recipe and if you have please don't hesitate to share it with your family and friends you know like the video leave a comment try the recipe absolutely and I would love your feedback and you can leave your comments with your feedback now if you haven't subscribed yet I don't know what you're waiting for just click that subscribe button like now and if you don't want to miss any videos or any recipes click onto that notification button like now now I am on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter as indudubifufa you can find the transcripts of this recipe on my blog indudubifufa.blogspot.com including the measurements thank you again for watching and I hope you are inspired to try the recipe until next time take care of you much love bye