Here's a classic example of an unpretentious soup recipe made special by adding one ingredient. The word "suam" means "swim or swimming" in Kapampangan, hence Suam na Mais is actually corn swimming in soup. The original recipe calls for the sticky white corn variety but for lack of white corn, Japanese sweet corn can do.Mom added squares of squash and used bird's eye chili leaves. The squash made the soup yellowish but it somehow made the taste and texture of the soup even more palatable (rice please!!!). I know someone who adds okra and string beans into it. Shrimp, pork, chicken, anything goes. The recipe is very versatile. The bottom line is that the taste of corn marries so well with whatever you pair it with. I happen to love crabs but from where I'm at, they're are as expensive as gold. Next time, I'll tweak it a bit by adding store bought crab fat (taba ng talangka). Whether you are a pure vegetarian or possesses an adventurous palate like I do, this soup is for you.
By the way, if you're using big crabs for this one, I suggest you pound them a bit so as to keep your neighbors from wondering whats the pounding all about, LOL!
Ingredients:
Basic soup
Procedure
By the way, if you're using big crabs for this one, I suggest you pound them a bit so as to keep your neighbors from wondering whats the pounding all about, LOL!
Ingredients:
Basic soup
- 1 cup grated corn (including the pulp)
- 1 small onion (minced)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- water or broth
- any preferred leafy vegetable ( I used Malunggay although I would have preferred the young leaves of green chili)
- crabs (uncooked and chopped into halves. half crab is usually one individual serving)
Procedure
- In a medium or large sauce pan(depending on how many crabs you are going to add later) or wok, saute onion and garlic in a little oil.
- Add the grated corn and the water/broth.
- Season with salt.
- Simmer until the soup reaches boiling point.
- Add the crabs and spoon some of the soup on top.
- Simmer covered for 2-3 minutes or until the crabs have turned orange.
- Season again with fish sauce and white pepper.
- Add the vegetables