Soup and sandwiches. Again.

It's Sunday, it's evening, and it's our turn for soup and sandwiches with our dear chums, N&S.

The recipe today is a bit of a cultural bastard. The soup has leanings to the Thai, the sandwiches are a little Iberian. 

The soup: A very kind patient of mine brought us some freshly-caught snappers about 2 months ago. I filleted them, and we had a brilliant, fresh, fish and chips, but the bones, head and skin went into a big pan with onion, bayleaf and water and I made a fragrant stock. And here it is, with the addition of lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, Thai basil, and coriander root, as the basis for this soup.

stock.

I then fried some red onion, garlic & ginger, (all finely chopped) until soft but not browned. 

frying things

And I strained the flavoured stock into the softened onions, and then decided it needed some sourness, so I added a few tsps of tamarind paste.

I then let it all cool, and waited for our guests to arrive before re-heating the soup base.

Finally, I added raw prawns and scallops, cooked them for about 3 minutes, and served the soup, garnishing with chopped coriander leaf. And, because I missed it out from the cooking process, so as not to offend the palate of those who don't like it, I served chilli sauce too, as I like the heat!

the soup. Served.

As for the sarnies: White bread and "Chaka":

Chaka is a bit obscure: even wikipedia doesn't list it, but the same Spanish best friend of LW who gave us the recipe for Tortilla also turned us on to this simple delight: Surimi (yes, really, that odd, rubbery faux-crab made of pollock and alginate!) hard boiled eggs, and mayonnaise mixed thoroughly and seasoned. That's Chaka!

and so is this.

It's also great on a baked potato. That's tonight's meal!