fish head soup with preserved mustard 鱼头咸菜汤

I love going to the market. I love buying fish.

Since I discovered that buying an entire fish was way cheaper than buying just the parts, I always buy the whole thing and ask my fish monger to cut it up for me.

I normally have him fillet the fish for me as the LAM and I eat pan-fried fish quite a bit.  I would use the bones to make a broth with which we would use to cook porridge for JL. But the head. The head can be a challenge. 

The first time I bought a whole fish, I didn't really know what to do with its head so I ended with with a pretty big fish head that I gave away. The eyes really spooked me out. Then I got smarter and I started asking my fish monger to either spilt the fish head in halves for cooking fish head curry, or chop it into smaller pieces. Always, I ask him to dispose of the eyes. *Cringe*

With the smaller pieces of fish head from my purchase at the market this morning, I cooked fish head soup for my Dad.

To start, I sliced ginger into thin pieces.

I also washed and cut some preserved mustard into smaller pieces. There are quite a few types of preserved mustard. The one that I have used is meant for cooking soups, and they are less salty so I did not bother soaking them in water beforehand.

I placed the ginger and preserved mustard into boiling water and let them simmer.

In the meantime, I sliced half of a carrot, cut a tomato into smaller pieces, and halved some straw mushrooms.

I also washed and drained the fish head.

When the preserved mustard had softened a little, I added carrots and continued cooking. Then the mushrooms were placed in the broth.

I turned the heat up and brought the broth to a boil.

And the fish was added into the broth.

I moved the fish around a little very gently to immerse them in the broth. Once the fish was cooked through (it would not take very long), I added ground white pepper and a little salt, as well as the tomatoes.

I turned the heat off as the residual heat would cook and soften the tomatoes.

You can serve this with noodles, or rice. I like eating it as it is.

This was really, really delicious.

RECIPE

Fish Head Soup with Preserved Mustard (Serves 2)

Ingredients:

1/2 fish head, cut into pieces

1 piece ginger, peels and sliced

50g preserved mustard, cut into pieces

8 straw mushrooms, halved

1/2 carrot, thinly sliced

1 tomato, cut into chunks

1 litre water

1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Fresh coriander to garnish

Method:

1. Place ginger and preserved mustard in water. Bring to boil. Lower heat to medium and simmer for about 10 minutes.

2. Add carrots and simmer for another 3-4 minutes. Add mushroom. 

3. Turn up the heat and bring broth to a boil. Add fish. Cook 3-4 minutes, until fish is cooked through. Season with salt and pepper. Add tomato.

4. Garnish with coriander and serve immediately.