Skip to content

Chupe de camarones

Prawn chowder

Chupe de camarones: Arequipa's creamy prawn chowder with potatoes, corn, egg, milk and cheese

Arequipa's picanterías serve one chupe on each day of the week, and the prawn one, made with crayfish-like camarones from the Majes and Ocoña rivers, is the grandest, especially on Fridays in Lent. It is a big orange chowder: a broth made from the prawn shells and heads, coloured with ají panca, filled with potatoes, corn, broad beans and a little rice, then softened with evaporated milk and fresh cheese, with an egg poached in each bowl. Rich, sweet and gently spicy, it needs nothing but bread. Large shell-on prawns stand in well for river prawns. Many cooks boil the prawns from the start and they turn to rubber; add them at the end and cook only until pink and opaque. Chef's tip: fry the heads and shells in the oil first and press them hard; the orange fat that comes out is what gives chupe its colour and depth.
Total time
75 min
Difficulty
medium
Serves
4
One step at a time, big text, timers, read-aloud. Your screen stays on.

Ingredients

Serves4

For the broth

For the chowder

To serve

Shop this recipe on Amazon

Fresh ingredients (10)

Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.

Method

0/9 done
  1. Step 1: Peel 1 ⅓ lb large shell-on raw prawns, keeping the tails on. Devein them and keep in the fridge. Keep the heads and shells.

  2. Step 2: Heat 3 tbsp vegetable oil in a large pot over a medium-high heat and fry the heads and shells, pressing them with a spoon, until bright red and the oil turns orange.

    5 min
  3. Step 3: Add 1 red onion and 4 garlic cloves and fry until soft, then stir in 2 tbsp ají panca paste, 1 tomato and 1 tsp dried oregano and cook until thick.

    8 min
  4. Step 4: Pour in 6 ¼ cups water, add 1 ½ tsp salt and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain the broth into a clean pot, pressing the shells, and throw them away.

    15 min
  5. Step 5: Add 1 ⅛ lb yellow potatoes, 1 ¾ oz long-grain rice and 1 corn cob to the broth and simmer until the potatoes are almost tender.

    12 min
  6. Step 6: Add 3 ½ oz broad beans and 5 ½ oz squash and simmer until everything is soft and the rice has thickened the broth slightly.

    6 min
  7. Step 7: Turn the heat to low. Crack 4 eggs into the soup, spaced apart, and poach until the whites are set.

    4 min
  8. Step 8: Stir in ¾ cup evaporated milk and 5 ½ oz queso fresco gently, add the peeled prawns and cook without boiling until they are pink, curled and opaque all the way through.

    3 min
  9. Step 9: Ladle into deep bowls with an egg in each and scatter over 1 tbsp huacatay or fresh coriander.

Nutrition per serving

Calories
520 kcal
Protein
38 g
Carbs
48 g
Fat
19 g
Fibre
5 g

Nutrition values are estimates.

K
Recipe by

KrazyBadal

All recipes by this chef →

Good to know

How long does chupe de camarones take?
About 75 minutes in total: 25 minutes to prepare and 50 minutes to cook.
How many people does it serve?
4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
Is it gluten free?
Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
What can I use instead of red onion?
White onion or shallots, same amount (soak raw onion in cold water for 10 minutes to soften it).
What can I use instead of garlic cloves?
½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.

Rate this recipe

Sign in to rate and review this recipe.

Tiyula itumBlack beef soup

Tiyula itum, 'black soup', is the pride of the Tausug people of Sulu in the far south of the Philippines, cooked for weddings, Eid celebrations and when guests come home. Beef (it is a halal, pork-free dish) is simmered with ginger, lemongrass and turmeric, then darkened with pamapa itum, a paste of grated coconut toasted until almost black and pounded with spices. The broth looks dramatic but tastes smoky, earthy and gently peppery, with heat from chillies. Serve it with plain rice. Chef's tip: toast the coconut slowly, stirring all the time, until it is very dark brown but not ashy; burnt-to-ash coconut tastes bitter and ruins the soup.

by KrazyBadal 2 views

Ful nabitSprouted fava bean soup

Sprouted beans are ladled out with their cooking liquor in Cairo homes when the weather turns cold or someone is feeling run down, and Egyptians swear by the broth as a pick-me-up. The beans are soaked and left to sprout for a few days, then simmered with onion, garlic and cumin into a light, earthy soup that is sharpened at the table with plenty of lemon. You can eat the beans with a spoon or pop them from their skins. Allow 3 to 4 days for sprouting, although the hands-on work is only about 20 minutes. People with G6PD deficiency (favism) must not eat fava beans. Chef's tip: stop the sprouting when the shoots are about 1 cm long; longer sprouts taste grassy and bitter.

by KrazyBadal 2 views

BabboucheSpiced snail broth

After dark in Marrakech's great square, the babbouche stalls are recognisable by their steaming cauldrons and the toothpicks laid out by every bowl. Small land snails simmer in a dark broth of liquorice root, aniseed, thyme, caraway, bitter orange peel, chilli and a bundle of herbs that sellers say has fifteen ingredients, believed to soothe the stomach and warm you on a cold night. You pick the snails out with a toothpick, then drink the peppery, herbal, faintly sweet broth. At home, buy live snails sold for cooking, already purged by a reputable seller, discard any with broken shells or that do not move or retract when touched, and cook them through for at least 45 minutes. Chef's tip: keep the spices in a muslin bag; the broth stays clear and you avoid crunching on seeds.

by KrazyBadal 2 views