Sichuan Fish Soup

A sour fish soup that takes its sourness from pickled greens rather than vinegar.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 500 g white fish fillets, in 3 cm pieces
• 200 g pickled mustard greens, rinsed and shredded
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 pickled chillies, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 tablespoon ginger, shredded
• 1 litre hot water or light stock
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 spring onions, sliced

Method

1. Rinse the pickled greens and squeeze them dry, then taste a shred. They carry all the sourness and most of the salt in this soup, and how much of each varies enormously between jars — so taste first and hold back the salt until the end.
2. Fry the greens in the oil over a medium heat for 3 minutes, until they smell sharp and the edges start to catch. Frying them first is what turns the sourness round rather than raw.
3. Add the pickled chillies, garlic and ginger and stir for 30 seconds.
4. Pour in the hot water and the wine and simmer for 10 minutes with the lid off, so the broth takes on the greens.
5. Slide the fish in and poach it gently for 4 minutes. Do not stir it or it will break up; move the pan instead.
6. Taste, and add the salt only if it needs it. Scatter the spring onions over and serve it in bowls as a soup, with rice on the side.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under China · All recipes