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1
Build the Tomato and Cumin Broth
12 Mins
Medium heat, about 160°C (320°F)
Heat the olive oil in a large pot, add the onion and cook for 5 minutes until soft. Add the garlic, cumin, coriander and chilli flakes and cook 1 minute until fragrant, then stir in the diced tomatoes and tomato paste and cook 3 minutes until the tomatoes soften. Pour in the fish stock, add the bay leaf and bring to a gentle simmer.
Cook the tomato paste for a full 3 minutes — raw paste tastes tinny, cooked paste tastes deep and sweet.
Done when: A fragrant red broth, gently simmering, smelling of cumin and tomato.
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2
Poach the Fish and Calamari
8 Mins
Gentle simmer, about 95°C (203°F)
Slide the fish chunks and calamari rings into the simmering broth, in that order, and cook for 4–5 minutes without stirring hard — the fish must reach 63°C (145°F) and the calamari should just turn opaque. Keep the broth at a bare simmer, not a boil, so the fish does not fall apart.
Do not boil the broth hard once the fish is in — a rolling boil shreds fish and turns calamari rubbery.
Done when: Fish flakes gently, calamari rings opaque and tender.
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3
Add the Shrimp and Mussels
6 Mins
Gentle simmer, about 95°C (203°F)
Add the shrimp and mussels, push them under the broth and cook for 3–4 minutes until the shrimp are pink and curled and the mussels have opened. Throw away any mussel that stays shut. The shrimp must be fully pink and opaque all the way through.
Shrimp go from perfect to rubbery in about a minute — take the pot off the heat the moment the last shrimp turns pink.
Done when: Shrimp pink and curled, mussels open, broth still clear and red.
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4
Lemon, Parsley and Rest
5 Mins
Off the heat, about 80°C (176°F)
Take the pot off the heat, fish out the bay leaf and stir in the lemon juice and half the chopped parsley. Taste and add salt and pepper only if it needs it, then leave the soup to rest for 3–4 minutes so the flavours settle.
Add the lemon off the heat — boiling lemon juice turns bitter, and the soup needs its brightness.
Done when: A bright, balanced broth with lemon and parsley on top of the tomato and cumin.
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5
Ladle and Serve with Bread
4 Mins
Serve hot, about 70°C (158°F)
Ladle the soup into deep, warm bowls, making sure each bowl gets fish, shrimp, calamari and a mussel or two. Scatter the rest of the parsley over the top and serve immediately with lemon wedges and crusty baladi bread for soaking up the broth.
Serve the mussels in their shells in the bowl — they are part of the eating, and the shells hold the best broth.
Done when: Steaming bowls of red broth crowded with seafood, parsley on top, bread on the side.
auto_awesome Finishing Touches & Plating
Serve the soup steaming hot, each bowl full of fish, shrimp, calamari and mussels in the clear red broth — squeeze lemon over it at the table and eat it with bread, while the seafood is still tender.
Egypt
1h 15m
