It was one of those mornings when the man randomly said he wanted fish soup for lunch and wondered where we could get a bowl. And I decided to be nice and said I could boil up some. There was a pack of fish stock at home that I could use. It wouldn't be as good as me boiling up fish bones, but it would do.
Went out for a coffee and a supermarket run for ingredients, and I was all set to boil up stuff for lunch. The supermarket had nice threadfin (in season now) and sea bream. Got those. There wasn't any Australian wongbok, so I got the Japanese hakusai. Added on Fuzhou fishballs, silken tofu, and lean pork slices.
Also got a pack of mee tai mak. That was for ME. I need my carbs and I love mee tai mak done right. The fish and pork were marinated for a short bit before going into the soup. Cut up the fish and layered them in soy sauce and sesame oil. The pork was slathered in Shaoxing wine and fish sauce since they were supposed lend some depth to both soups.
Two pots were needed. One pot would holdthe 500g of soup stock + 100g of water that would be boiling up the fish and bits of hakusai stems, and also to blanch the leaves. This 'Premium Soup Stock Red Snapper Chicken with Dried Scallops' is from Soup Spoon. It was pretty good, but a tad salty for my preferences. I like my soups a lot less salty. So I diluted it with 100g of water. Diluting it wasn't an issue because I added in thick hakusai stems and the fish that would thicken the soup and add even more flavors to it. #ImpieCooks2023
The other pot of 'soup' was done with dashi powder, a strip of kombu, and crushed anchovies; this would hold the Fuzhou fishballs and lean pork. I also blanched the mee tai mak and tofu in this pot. There would be plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day. This is the kind of comfort food that I could eat daily too with nary a complaint.
The man was super happy with lunch. He didn't expect me to offer to cook, and he definitely wouldn't ask me to do so. Teheheeheh. He didn't have much mee tai mak save for a spoonful. So it was still low on carbs, full of proteins and easy on the salt.
I'm quite pleased with this pack of soup stock. It's got pretty decent quality ingredients and this sort of fish soup is extremely easy to whip up, especially when I don't have time to sear fish bones and boil up fish stock. Hahaha. Okay can. I can indeed cheat with this pre-boiled fish stock from Soup Spoon, or I can also do with decent packs of stock from other brands.
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