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Southern Indian Rice & Seafood Soup

This soup was first cooked for me by Das, my friend who runs the southern Indian restaurants in London called Rasa. I've based mine around his original recipe, and what's fantastic about it is that it's so easy to make. It only takes about 30 minutes, and the other great thing is that the ingredients are not particularly expensive, so it's economical. However, if you want to spend a little more and make it a bit luxurious using something like crab, then you can. The soup is just as good with frozen prawns and flaky white fish though. Use any selection of fish that you fancy – I like to use a good mixture of fresh-looking fish (John Dory, cod, haddock or red mullet all work well). Get it skinned and filleted, then all you have to do is chop it up. If you can find any coconut oil, use that, otherwise vegetable and sunflower oil are fine to use. This really is one of my favourite soups. It's not too hot, but as you eat it you can pick out the individual flavours. And there's something about having rice in a soup that makes it really scrumptious.

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Southern Indian Rice & Seafood Soup

Why it works: Cumin and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,698 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Southern Indian Rice & Seafood Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

904Calories
30 gProtein
55 gFat
74 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 17 ingredients. The other 4 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Coconut1/2 cup shredded (40g)283
Salmon100g cooked208
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Vegetable1 tbsp (14g)120
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Turmeric1 tsp ground (3g)9
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Sunflower Oilnot in our table0
Seednot in our table0
Waternot in our table0
Coriandernot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By jamieoliver. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cumin + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,698 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Turmeric + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Cumin + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sunflower, mustard, cumin, turmeric, ginger, clove, garlic):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Broccolifits better
  3. Kalefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sunflower, mustard, cumin, turmeric, ginger, clove, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.