Fish, Apple, Daikon and Escarole Soup

The man came home complaining about how a bowl of soup at lunch made his throat scratchy. "Must be the MSG!" It would be the first time ever that he complained about too much MSG. He doesn't seem to be very affected by it usually. I winced and sighed. If that wasn't a hint, I didn't know what it was. Offered to cook him another nice pot of soup.

Asian-style fish, apple, daikon and escarole soup. Easy. Takes only an hour over medium fire. You could use fish head I suppose. But I'm not cooking for 10 people. For that, heads of the sea bream and amberjack are preferred. At home, only four bowls of soup are needed. For boiling down, I simply picked a mix of four fillets of tarakihi, grouper and snapper. This wasn't meant to be herbal soup. Not bothered to use toman or haruan or heads. Whichever white fish fillets would do. Seared the fillets before plonking them into the pot. #impieCooks2015

A bulb of yellow onion, a few gingko nuts and slices of ginger went in too. Handle raw gingko nuts with care. Use sparingly. They've got neurotoxins as scary as apricots and all. Remember to dig out the eeky kernel from the center of fresh de-shelled nuts. Definitely didn't put in any chicken feet or pork ribs. NO. Fish soup means exactly that. No other strange meats. Not even bothered with prawn heads or clams. If I do that, then this turns into a bouillabaisse, of which I can also do extremely well.  That will be for another post. :)

I don't like ordering fish soup at restaurants because very few kitchens bother to strain the fish scales, tiny bones and whatnot. It's not enjoyable having to spit out things with each spoonful. When I do it at home, it makes drinking it much more pleasant. The man was pleased with the soup. Hurhurhur. I am pleased with it too. Of course I sipped it. Subtle. A light bowl of broth but not lacking in flavors.