This is a great dish to have during the summer or winter months.
Chinese fish soup, you might have heard of it but maybe you’ve never tasted it. Well, we think it’s about time that changes! This soup is incredibly aromatic, with plenty of delicious vitamins that will keep you satisfied for hours afterwards.
This contains nothing but goodness, with the fish served in its own broth.
If you are looking for a starter for your traditional Chinese main course ( check out our chinese cookies recipe), then we would certainly recommend that you have this fish dish.
It is light and very easy on the stomach, making it a great meal to have if you are looking to lose some pounds before the beach season kicks in.
So what are the ingredients for this fish soup? How much attention should you be paying to the cooking instructions? How long does the fish need to be cooked for?
How much do you need to prep for your party of 10? How can you make sure that the ingredients are cooked to within an inch of perfection?
Well, if you want the answers to these questions and a hell of a lot more, then we would certainly recommend that you read on. This fish soup will certainly fill a hole in your belly, but without packing on the pounds.
It is brimming with healthy fish oils and vegetables, so you won’t have to worry about getting your daily vegetable intake.
Why Chinese Fish Soup?
This recipe has one thing that makes it stand out – pickled mustard greens. That’s right, this pickled delight is very crunchy and salty and gives this soup its heart and soul. If you are looking for a tangy soup, then we would certainly recommend that you opt for this one.
Also, this recipe uses the whole fish (check out our fish maw soup recipe), from tail to head. This really is the most healthy organic soup, so if you want to be sure that your food is cooked within a few degrees of perfection, then you can’t go wrong with this recipe.
This is also good for environmentally-conscious chefs who do not like too much food wastage after they have eaten.
However, this dish is also extremely flexible. You can even swap out the fish for meat or vegetables if you are a vegetarian. Simply substitute your fish for pork, beef or mushrooms to give you a different flavor with every meal.
However, for this recipe, we’re going to stick with the traditional fish ingredient.
The Ingredients
This dish contains a wealth of ingredients, so make sure that you have everything on this list before attempting this recipe. There’s nothing worse than getting halfway through a dish only to discover that you don’t have a crucial ingredient.
- 1 bass fish head – you can ask your local fishmonger if they will strip and clean this fish for you.
- Half a kilogram fish – try and make sure that the fish is the same species as the fish head, in this case, we’ve used a bass groper.
- 400 grams of pickled mustard greens ( check out our sui mi ya cai) – you can pick this up from any Asian market.
- Half a kilogram of taro – again, you can get this from most local groceries.
- Fried tofu
- Ginger slices x 5
- Spring onion heads x 8
- Potato starch
- 2 tablespoons of salt – this is for flavoring
- 1 tablespoon of sugar – also for the seasoning
- 1 tablespoon of chicken powder – for seasoning
- 3 liters of water
- Rice noodles
That’s everything! Make sure you source as many fresh ingredients as you can, as this will really enhance the flavor and the nutrient quality.
The Recipe
- First, get your fish ready by completely cleaning and preparing it. Take a sharp blade and scrape off any excess scales. You can also get a fishmonger to do this for you.
- Slice your fish into chunks and coat them in the potato starch.
- Fry these fish chunks in oil over a medium heat. Keep doing this until they have a light golden brown color.
- Cut your taro into similar-sized chunks and fry in oil over medium heat.
- Wash your pickled mustard greens and then fry them in oil. If you like your greens crunchy, you can make your chunks bigger.
- Pan fry these greens until they are light brown.
- Heat up the pan with oil and add your ginger and spring onions. Do not cook them for too long, just enough for them to release flavor.
- Add your fish to these vegetables, cooking them all until the fish smell is diminished.
- Once you have added all these, put the fish, the ginger, the spring onions and the mustard greens into a pot, adding salt, sugar and the chicken powder.
- Let this broth cook lightly for around 30 minutes.
- Add the fried tofu and the taro until the taro is melted. You should also make sure that the fish is lightly melted too. The longer that you cook the fish, then the more delicious that it will taste. If you like your fish quite tough, then cook it for less time.
Once the broth is stewed well, you can serve it either by itself or with rice noodles. We would recommend having this on a summer’s day, along with some orange juice.
What Else You’ll Need To Know
This is a wonderful source of omega-3 fish oils, which is great for your brain health and the health of your joints. If you are worried about having arthritis as you get older, then we would certainly recommend having fish soup in your diet.
Because the main ingredient of this dish is fish, then it will be a lot less fatty for you. This is very low on carbs, but the fish will leave you feeling very full for much longer during the day.
