Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup

This Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup is rich and creamy, full of shrimp and corn (two kinds!) and lots of crabmeat. You might want to double the recipe! This disappears in a heartbeat. 

My mom has been telling me about this soup for quite a while and sending me multiple copies of the recipe. It comes from a lady who was a dear friend to my Aunt Karen in New Orleans. Ms. Debbie is a great cook (as was my wonderful late aunt of best pecan pie ever fame) and she was very happy to share. Like every Cajun recipe, it starts with the holy trinity of onions, bell pepper and celery. 

For some reason, my mom seemed to think it was a crab soup so maybe that’s how my aunt made it but in Ms. Debbie’s original recipe, it was called shrimp soup and the crab was optional. 

Since crabmeat is so expensive, you could just double the shrimp but I’m here to tell you that the addition of lump crabmeat is fabulous if it's within your budget for a special occasion. I must confess at this juncture that since my mom really really wanted me to cook this soup, she paid for the crab and I purchased the rest of the ingredients. We were both happy with the deal we struck.  So happy that after the first batch, I made one more on the same terms. 

Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup

If my shrimp are large, I like to use a sharp knife to cut them right through the middle lengthwise into two shrimp-shaped halves. This means more bites of soup with shrimp in them. You could also leave yours whole if they are small or cut them into chunks. As for the cream of shrimp soup, mine was Campbell's. When my mom first shared the recipe, I thought that must be one of the old fashioned canned soups that is no longer made since I'd never seen it. Turns out I had just never looked closely enough at the soup aisle! One of my local grocery stores does indeed stock Campbell's cream of shrimp. Who knew?

Ingredients

1/2 cup or 113g butter

1 small onion

1 small bell pepper

1 long stalk celery

2 cloves garlic

1 lb or 450g shrimp, already peeled and cleaned

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning (Tony Chachere's or the like)

1 can (10.5 oz or 298g) cream of shrimp soup

1 can (10.5 oz or 298g) cream of celery soup

1 can (14.75 oz or 418g) cream style corn

1 can (15 oz or 425g) whole kernel corn, drained

2 cups or 480ml half and half (or 1 cup milk and 1 cup whipping cream)

1 teaspoon liquid crab boil

1 lb or 450g lump crabmeat, picked over carefully for shell bits 

Optional for garnish: chopped parsley and a sprinkle of Cajun seasonings

Method

Finely chop the onion, bell pepper and celery and mince the garlic. Melt the butter in a Dutch oven a low heat then add everything but the garlic. 

Sauté for a few minutes until the vegetables are softened and the onion is translucent. Add the garlic to the pot. Sauté for another couple of minutes. 

Add in the shrimp and sprinkle on the Cajun seasoning. Stir well and cook till shrimp are pink. 

Add the rest of the ingredients, except the crab. 

Slowly heat the soup and then simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often. 

While the soup is simmering, pick through the crab carefully and discard any bits of shell you find. 

When you are ready to serve, add in the crabmeat and heat until it is warmed through. 

Stir gently to keep the crabmeat intact as much as possible. 

Serve in bowls with a sprinkle of chopped parsley and a pinch of Cajun seasoning for flavor and color. 

Enjoy! 

It’s third Friday of the month, time for my Fish Friday Foodie friends to share their seafood recipes! I’m hosting this month and chose seafood soups as our theme. There are lots of warm and comforting dishes in the list below, perfect for winter weather! 

• Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup from Food Lust People Love
• Lobster Wonton and Corn Chowder from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Salmon Chowder from Making Miracles
• Shrimp Fra Diavolo Soup from Palatable Pastime
• Shrimp Ramen from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• White Hot & Sour Chicken & Prawn Soup from Sneha’s Recipe

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

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Spiced Hot Toddy Mini Bundts #BundtBakers

Delightful and soft, these spiced hot toddy mini Bundts are the perfect warming winter treat, brushed with whisky syrup and drizzled with an equally boozy icing. 

Theories abound regarding the invention of the hot toddy, a comforting drink made of lemon, honey or sugar, whisky and hot water.  The most likely one is that they originated in India and were brought to Great Britain during the time that the British controlled that country. According to dictionary.com notes, in the 1610s, the Hindi word “taddy” meant “beverage made from fermented palm sap.” By 1786, taddy was officially written down and defined as “beverage made of alcoholic liquor with hot water, sugar, and spices.”

The hot toddy made its way north and west and gained appeal not only as a warming drink but also as a cure or at least reliever of the common cold, especially in cold climates. I remember years ago, a Scottish friend telling me that when she was suffering from a cold as a child, her father would tuck her into her bed then make her drink down a hot concoction with whisky to cure what ailed her. 

She said she didn’t know that the hot drink cured her but she sure slept well. And maybe that is half the battle when one is fighting a cold. That said, let me just say right now that doctors these days do not recommend giving your child alcoholic drinks! 

Historically a hot toddy is made with whisky but nowadays you can find recipes with rum, brandy and other liquors. While I am not a fan of Scotch whisky, I do like Kentucky whiskey so that’s that I’ve used for the syrup and icing for these mini Bundts. You can substitute your favorite libation or, to keep it non-alcoholic, substitute orange juice for the whisky. 

Spiced Hot Toddy Mini Bundts

This recipe serves 9 and is adapted from one in .delicious magazine which you can also find online. (Theirs makes a full size Bundt cake.) I only own a 12-hole muffin pan so I fill the other three holes with some water for baking. I have no idea if this actually helps the heat distribute more evenly but I like to think so. 

Ingredients

1/3 cup or 75g very soft unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

1/2 cup, packed, or 100g light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg white

1/4 cup or 60ml milk

1/2 cup or 50g ground almonds

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground coriander

pinch ground cloves

pinch fine sea salt

1/2 cup or 63g flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

For the syrup:

1 tablespoon whiskey (I used Bulleit Kentucky whiskey.)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon clear honey

For the whisky icing:

1/3 cup or 40g icing sugar

3-4 teaspoons whiskey   

Optional for decorating: amber sugar crystals

Method

Heat the oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease your 9-hole mini Bundt pan liberally with butter. (See note above ingredients list.)

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, using a hand-held electric whisk or your stand mixer.

Scrape down the bowl and add the egg and egg white, whisking well to combine.  

Add the milk and whisk again.

Measure in the almonds, baking powder and spices with the pinch of salt. Sift in the flour with the baking powder and baking soda. Fold to combine. 

Divide the batter between the cups in your prepared mini Bundt pan. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes until risen, golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. 

Leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack.

Once the cake is cool, heat the syrup ingredients in a pan or in the microwave until just simmering. Brush the syrup all over the mini Bundts until it’s all absorbed. 

For the icing, put the icing sugar in a bowl and slowly stir in enough whisky to form a smooth icing. 

Drizzle the icing all over the mini Bundts then scatter with amber sugar crystals to decorate, if desired. I like the way they look but I especially like the delightful crunch they add. 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the first 2022 edition of Bundt Bakers! As you might guess from the titles below, our theme today is Fireside Drinks. Many thanks to our host Felice of All That's Left Are The Crumbs!

• Fireside Bundt Cake by All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Pink Gin Tonic Hibiscus Bundt Cake by Patyco Candybar
• Kahlua and Cream Cake by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Spiced Hot Toddy Mini Bundts by Food Lust People Love
• Spiced Rum Mince Meat Christmas Pudding Bundt by Sneha's Recipe

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

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Butter Prawns – Malaysian Style

Butter Prawns - aka shrimp - are crunchy, spicy and fragrant with golden egg floss and crisp curry leaves. They are a specialty at Malaysian Chinese eateries and one of our family favorites.

If you’ve been reading this space for a while, you know that I have a very soft spot for a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur called Mei Keng Fatt. It is super casual (think plastic chairs and paper napkins) but the food is delicious. The menu includes all manner of Chinese dishes with chicken, beef, pork and even ostrich but the specialties are chili crab and butter prawns.

We went often on a Friday night and our order never varied: black pepper beef, chili crab, cashew chicken, baby kailan with garlic and butter prawns. We’d finish the meal with fresh mango served on a platter covered with crushed ice. Divine!

When we moved on to Singapore in 2007, we were disappointed to find that what the seafood restaurants there called butter prawns were a terrible concoction that substituted butter-fried oats for the egg yolk floss. Sure, that’s probably easier but it’s not the same! And their chili crab sauce seemed to be made with ketchup. What up, Singapore?

After moving back to KL in 2009, we frequented Mei Keng Fatt even more often because we'd missed it so! Also we figured our days in Malaysia were numbered and we wanted to take advantage of its delights as many times as possible before the next transfer. I don’t even want to guess how often we went (or picked up takeaway) between 2009 and 2012!

Butter Prawns – Malaysian Style

Now, of course, I have to make my own butter prawns. This recipe does take some time but none of the steps are hard. Just take it slow and you’ll get there. I promise it will be so worth it! This recipe is adapted from one on Malaysian Delicacies.

Ingredients

4 eggs

2.2 lbs or 1kg (weight without head and shell) large size prawns or shrimp

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/3 cup or 40g cornstarch

1/3 cup or 75g ghee (clarified butter)

4 to 5 sprigs fresh curry leaves

8 hot chili peppers, chopped

1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil

Method

Separate your eggs putting the yolks in a small bowl and one white in another. Put the other three whites in a sealed contain and put them in the refrigerator for another use. (I like to use mine for mini pavlovas or macaroons.)  Beat the yolks well. Beat the single egg white well. 

 

Wash and peel the prawns, leaving just the tails on. Sprinkle them with the salt and sugar. Add the well-beaten egg white to the bowl and stir well to distribute the salt and sugar and to coat the prawns with the egg white.

Sprinkle on the cornstarch with a small sieve, stirring well to coat. Set aside. 

To make the egg floss, heat a wok or large nonstick pan then add the ghee. Once the ghee is hot, pour in the beaten egg yolks in a very thin stream while stirring it continuously to get fine shreds of yolk. Since my pan is nonstick, I like to use a rubber-coated whisk for this. 

Keep stirring over medium heat until you have finished pouring all the egg yolks. 

It bubbles up but persevere and keep stirring until it turns into golden crispy floss.

Turn off the stove. Over the pan, spoon the egg floss into a sieve so the ghee drips back into the pan. 

Set the sieve over a bowl to keep draining or pour the floss onto some paper towels to drain. 

Add the canola oil to the pan. Lift the prawns one by one out of the bowl and add them in batches to the hot oil, cooking until they are golden and crispy on both sides. 

Remove them to a pan lined with newspaper and topped with clean paper towels.  Continue frying the prawns until they are all golden and crispy. 

Discard all but three tablespoons of the oil and heat the pan again over a medium flame. Add in the chopped chili peppers and curry leaves. 

You’ll want your vent hood on for this step to extract the spicy air from the chili peppers, if it wasn’t on already for the prawn frying. You'll notice there are no photos of this step. That's because I was coughing too much. Lesson learned!

Update: Found some photos of a prior time I made this and had the vent hood fan on! Truly it's one of our favorites. 

Fry until the curry leaves turn crispy and a bit darker, which takes just a minute or so. Add the prawns back in and give a few stirs to rewarm them all. 

Add most of the egg floss in and stir. 

Spoon the prawns onto a serving plate and sprinkle with the reserved egg floss to serve. 

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and time to get ready for a lunar new year celebration to welcome  the Year of the Tiger with a delicious list of Chinese or Asian inspired recipes! Check out the list below. Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime. 

• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Tiger Salad
• Making Miracles: Shrimp Cakes
• Palatable Pastime: San Choy Bow
• Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Chow Steak Kow (Steak Stir Fry)
• Food Lust People Love: Butter Prawns
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Kung Pao Cauliflower
• Sneha’s Recipe: Pork Chilli With Peppers
• Sizzling Tastebuds: Instant Pot Asian Style Veg Noodles

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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