CRAB YAM AND PEPPER SOUP

Ingredients

• 4 Cloves
• 1 Cinnamon stick
• 1 Nutmeg (whole)
• 4  Uda pods (optional)
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds
• 2 tbls Coconut oil
• 80 gm  Onion, thinly sliced
• 1 Scotch Bonnet pierced
• 400 gm Sweet Potato, peeled, washed and diced into 1cm cubes
• 2 Bay leaves
• 2 tsp Shrimp paste
• 1 tsp Fish Sauce
• 1 tsp Vegeta
• 340 gm Crab meat
• 2 gm Salt
• 2 gm Pepper
• Basil leaves finely chopped

Method

1. Put the cloves, Cinnamon stick, Nutmeg, uda pods, and Cumin seeds into a small dry pan set over a medium–high heat. Shake the pan constantly for 1–2 mins to keep the spices from burning. Once they’ve darkened slightly and they smell fragrant, take the pan off the heat, cut the Nutmeg in two and crush the other Spices slightly. Put the Spices into a bowl and set aside.
2. Melt the Coconut oil in a large pot over a medium heat. Add Onion and pierced Scotch bonnets and cook for roughly 4 mins. Stir Sweet Potato into the Onion, add the crushed spices and Bay leaves. Mix the Shrimp paste and Vegeta with 800ml hot water, add to the pan and turn up the heat. Once bubbling, turn the heat down to low and let cook, covered, for 10 mins until the Sweet Potato can easily be pierced with a fork. Taste and season with Salt and Cayenne pepper and cook for a final 2 mins. Discard the Scotchie, any large pieces of spice and the Bay leaves.
3. Serve, evenly divide the Sweet Potato between four bowls, followed by the Crab meat. Ladle soup into each bowl and sprinkle with basil. Enjoy hot.