Moroccan Cold Baked Pepper Soup with Shrimp

6 servings

60 minutes

Fresh and baked bell peppers are two different products. The former is spicy and bright, but this brightness quickly fades. And after the oven, the pepper develops a completely different taste - sweetness, spiciness , smoky aroma, a much wider palette. In this recipe, the spiciness of baked peppers is enhanced by tart cumin. The result is a liquid version of the Moroccan pepper spread muhammara, which is now fashionable to serve in restaurants. You can pour this soup into glasses, add ice and sip through a straw, like a drink or smoothie. Or, as in this recipe, pour into soup bowls and garnish with shrimp before serving.

Energy value per serving

• Calories: 137.5
• Proteins: 19.1g
• Fats: 1.3g
• Carbohydrates: 12.7g

Ingredients

• Red sweet pepper: 4 pc
• Celery stalk: 1 pc
• Carrot: 1 pc
• Onion: 1 head
• Garlic: 1 clove
• Cumin (zira): to taste
• Bay leaf: 2 pc
• Chili pepper: to taste
• Vegetable broth: 1 l
• King Prawns: 12 pc
• Salt: to taste
• Ground black pepper: to taste

Cooking steps

1. Prepare all the ingredients.

2. Place the peppers on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for 15 minutes. Then flip and bake for another 15 minutes on the other side.

   Required ingredients:

   • Red sweet pepper: 4 pieces

3. Remove the baking tray from the oven, cover it with foil, and let the pepper cool in this way. Then remove the stem, skin, and seeds from the pepper.

   Required ingredients:

   • Red sweet pepper: 4 pieces

4. Chop onion, carrot, celery, and garlic randomly.

   Required ingredients:

   • Celery stalk: 1 piece
   • Carrot: 1 piece
   • Onion: 1 head
   • Garlic: 1 clove

5. Heat vegetable oil in a pot and sauté onion and garlic for 3 minutes.

   Required ingredients:

   • Onion: 1 head
   • Garlic: 1 clove

6. Add carrot and celery, sautéing while stirring for another 3 minutes.

   Required ingredients:

   • Carrot: 1 piece
   • Celery stalk: 1 piece

7. Add roasted pepper, cumin, bay leaf, and sliced hot pepper to the pot.

   Required ingredients:

   • Red sweet pepper: 4 pieces
   • Cumin (zira):  to taste
   • Bay leaf: 2 pieces
   • Chili pepper:  to taste

8. Pour heated broth or just boiling water into the pot so that the liquid covers the vegetables by about 1.5–2 cm.

   Required ingredients:

   • Vegetable broth: 1 l

9. Boil the soup until the carrot is soft — this can take anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes, depending on the cutting and frying of the carrot. At the end, remove the bay leaf.

   Required ingredients:

   • Bay leaf: 2 pieces

10. Blend the soup with a blender until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cool down and refrigerate.

    Required ingredients:

    • Salt:  to taste
    • Ground black pepper:  to taste

11. Before serving the soup, clean the shrimp (you can leave the tail, but be sure to remove the intestine) and boil in salted water for 2-3 minutes.

    Required ingredients:

    • King Prawns: 12 pieces

12. Pour the soup into bowls, add the shrimp, and serve.