Soup

[Irine]

OK here goes; so this soup was made for me by a friend in Jamaica after I bugged him for 2 years to show me. He made it quick an I followed and made notes and since then I have made it several times with great results.

Ingredients:

- 2 packets of spicy cock soup mix

- 2 packets of fish tea

- 2 packets of Maggi Season Up all purpose (20 grams) - can be bought in larger shaker style container or 10 gram packets.

- 2 packets of Maggi Season Up Fish Flavor (20 grams) - can be bought in larger shaker style container or 10 gram packets.

- Either 1 large or 2 medium sized pumpkin squash. On the mainland if you can't find pumpkin squash just use Kabocha squash or the like, you want about 3-4 cups diced into 3/4 inch cubes.
- 2 cho cho fruit. On the mainland they are called Chayote fruit. You can peel and dice them up in 1/2 cubes. The cho cho have a soft white pit you want to cut out.

- 2 medium large white potatoes cubed in 3/4 inch pieces.
- 2 carrots diced up into soup size pieces.
- 2 leaks or green onions work also, crush them in your hands or under a knife and add them whole.
- sprig of thyme

- 2 scotch bonnet peppers or 2 habanero's left whole and not punctured.
- 1 lb of medium uncooked shrimp (take the tails off). As my pic shows I have also used king crab or chicken chunks, however shrimp does seem to be the best.

- salt and pepper.


Preparation:

I use a big pot as I like to make a big batch as now my kids are hooked and I have to make it for them when I make it for me. So I start with a 5 or 6 quart pot of water.
I add the soup mix, tea, seasoning, 1/2 the cho cho, 1/2 the pumpkin squash, 1/2 the potato, all the carrot, the 2 hot peppers, the sprig of thyme and the green onions all at once and bring it to a boil. I then set it low to simmer and when the squash, spuds and cho cho are soft (an hour or so) I add the rest of the squash, cho cho and potatoes left out of the first round. I do this because by the time the soup is ready the first batch added breaks down to mush but the second batch is a very nice texture for eating (like a cooked carrot texture). By the time the second batch softens up you can add the shrimp and they will be ready in about 15 or 20 minutes, put the shrimp in too soon and they turn to rubber.

This is where the variation can happen to taste. I find 2 peppers makes the lips tingle but isn't 5 alarm. Want more heat add another pepper, less heat take one out ( REMOVE THE PEPPERS BEFORE SERVING). Learned that lesson the hard way. Add more soup it up or fish it up or salt and pepper to taste. If you like thinner broth stop it as soon as it starts to thicken or it will be pea soup thick if you let it go. Just try to time your last squash fruit potato addition to allow it 45 minutes to soften up. Don't worry if it doesn't look like much for the first 1 1/2 hours, it will set up an be totally awesome.

You can half this recipe by using half the ingredients.

I'm not the best at writing recipes so by all means send me a question on any part of the process and I'll do my best.