This Thai Shrimp Bisque is rich and flavourful. It is really easy to make it dairy and gluten-free. It is perfect for entertaining.
I have been making this for years. It has a lot of ingredients but it is quite versatile. If I don’t have some of them I just skip them and there is enough going on that you won’t notice.
The hallmarks of Thai cuisine are sweet, sour, creamy, salty and spicy. So the coconut milk provides sweet and creamy, the crushed chilis provide the spice and the lime juice provides the sour and salt the salt. So you want to keep those in for sure but other things like the cilantro or even the ginger you can get away without.
So.. I don’t typically use the cilantro because my husband hates it. People seem to either love or hate cilantro. You could always use it as garnish if you are serving a lot of people and let the haters skip that part!
There are 3 parts to this recipe.
The shrimp stock – I always buy shell on shrimp so I can simmer the shells to make shrimp stock. It really adds a depth of flavour that I suggest is worth the extra effort.
The shrimp is marinated while the stock is simmering and you are prepping the other soup ingredients.
There are a lot of shrimp and vegetables in this recipe so it is a really filling soup.
I made these Buttery Garlic Buns and in a flash of inspiration I decided to brush them with melted butter and Thai Coconut seasoning. A nice little complementary hit if I do say so myself!
Ingredients
Shrimp
- 1 1/2 lbs large shell on shrimp Zipper back work great
Shrimp Stock
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1 Tbsp ketchup or tomato paste
- shrimp shells from above
Marinade
- 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
- zest from 1 lime
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 Tbsp fresh cilantro (optional)
- 1 Tbsp peeled minced ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 crushed garlic cloves
Bisque
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
- 1/3 cup finely chopped celery
- 1 14 oz can Lite Coconut milk
- 1 Tbsp ketchup or tomato paste
- 1/4 cup flour sub 2 Tbsps corn start to keep gluten free
- 1 cup 2% milk sub rice milk for dairy free
- 1/2 tsp salt
- fresh lime zest and cilantro for garnish optional
Instructions
- Peel and devein shrimp if necessary. Reserve shells.
- Reserve 6 shrimp intact for garnish. Chop the remaining shrimp into medium/fine dice.
- Mix all the marinade ingredients together. Pour over the shrimp and refrigerate about 30 minutes.
- Bring the stock ingredients to a simmer in a sauce pan. Simmer until reduce by half - about 10 minutes. Strain the solids out of the stock and reserve stock. You will need 1 cup for this recipe.
- In a sauce pan, heat the oil and sautee the onion and celery about 8 minutes.
- Add 1 cup of shrimp stock, the coconut milk and the tomato paste. Heat about 5 minutes.
- Whisk the flour (or cornstarch) and the milk together. Add to the soup and cook, stirring about 5 minutes to thicken.
- Add the shrimp and cook gently another 5 minutes. Add the salt just before serving.
- Divide among 6 bowls, Garnish with a whole shrimp, lime zest and cilantro if desired.