Two of Dad & lil bro's prized fish. After my fingers have been sliced, stabbed, pricked and my nails ruined to the moon and back, all while trying to gut, clean and fillet fish, I have newfound respect for all fishmongers!
And I'll pay any amount to have fish soup outside.
But for now,
this was what came out of a whole arvo spent in the kitchen from 11am till 4pm.
Just to make things clear though.
I've never cleaned or filleted a fish before.
So this could all possibly be done in a fraction of the time for the more skillful chefs.
Or really, just get the fishmonger to do it for you. :)
Bubble, bubble. Toil and ALOT of trouble.
But it was all worth it!
Presenting fishhead rice vermicelli soup UPSIZED! :)
- One fish of 1-2 kg (Slice the fish flesh in thick pieces and set aside fish head, bones and tails)
- 5 stalks of spring onion – White portion
- Few stalks of choy sum (Chinese flowering cabbage)
- 5 cm of ginger, sliced into thin pieces)
- 250 grams of rice vermicelli – blanched and set aside.
- 3-4 leaves of salted vegetable (sliced into thick pieces)
- 2 fresh tomatoes (cut into 4 quarters each fruit)
- 2 tablespoons of sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons of anchovies
- 1 cube of chicken stock
- 1 – 1.5 tablespoons of fish sauce
- 1/2 cup of Chinese cooking wine
- Dashes of white pepper
- 1 tablespoon of XO alcohol (optional)
I added slices of bittergourd. Sliced thinly. :)
Fish meat marinate (depends on the quantity of fish meat that you have)
- Some sesame oil
- Chinese Shaoxing Wine
- Kikkoman Soya Sauce
- White pepper
- Marinate the fish meat with white pepper, sesame oil, corn flour and salt for about 1 hour. I skipped the deep frying part so I just left it to sit in the fridge after marinating.
- Use the same oil to deep fried the fish head, bones and tails for 2-3 minutes or until the exterior is cooked. This step is optional and the main purpose of this step is to remove some fishiness of the fish and to preserve the exterior texture of the fish. You can deep fried these either with flour or without flour. Dish up and set aside.
- In another stock pot, put 1-2 tablespoons of oil and the sesame oil above, Sauté the ginger slices until fragrant, add the anchovies, the white part of spring onion, add water gradually just adequate to cover fried fish head and bones earlier. You can always adjust the water later.
- Put in the fish head, fish bones and tails. (Note that at this stage, you can add in the salted vegetables if you want to. However, it will be very difficult to serve the vegetable as it will mix with the fish bones. Therefore, I have advised to add it at a later stage though adding the salted vegetables at this stages will yield a tastier soup). Bring to boil and let it simmer at medium heat for at least 30-45 minutes. Add water gradually if you find that the water level is low. In this process, you will witness the fish stock will become cloudy. *Achievement unlocked! Once done, sift the stock from the first pot to another pot. Throw away the fish head and fish bones.
- In the new pot, add the chicken stock, Chinese cooking wine, salted vegetable, diced tomatoes and bittergourd. Bring to boil and add seasonings of your choice (fish sauce, dashes of white pepper). Once boiled, off the heat, add the XO (if any) and set aside for assembly. Meanwhile, have a pot of water, blanched the choy sum with some drops of oil and followed by the bee hoon. Drained and set aside.
- For assembly, have a bowl, put some bee hoon in the serving bowl and followed by some gravy adequate to cover the bee hoon, put some blanched choy cum, tomatoes and fish meat on top of the rice vermicelli. Garnished with deep fried shallots, dashes of white pepper and chopped coriander or Chinese celery if preferred. Best served with red cut chilli and some light soya sauce and usually served as a standalone noodle dish. If you do not like rice vermicelli, it can be served as a soup dish that goes well with white rice.
Credits to : https://kwgls.wordpress.com/2014/07/28/fish-headfillet-rice-vermicelli-soup-%E9%B1%BC%E5%A4%B4%E7%89%87%E7%B1%B3%E7%B2%89%E6%B1%A4%EF%BC%89/
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