Title: Orange Segment Fish Soup pt 1
Categories: Chinese, Fish, Soups, Chicken, Fruit
Yield: 7 Servings
FLAVORED WATER:
Green ginger; 5 cm
-peeled, sliced & bruised
4 Spring onions; clean, trim,
-cut 5 cm & bruise
125 ml Water; cold
1/2 ts Rice or red vinegar
SOUP:
3 lg Chinese mushrooms; dried
1 3/4 l Chicken stock; clear
25 g Bamboo shoots;
-finely sliced lengthways
8 Bok choy leaves;
-about 5 to 7.5 cm long
-cleaned and stems trimmed
Salt
1 ts Sesame oil
1 pn Chinese five spice
FISH PASTE:
650 g Fish; firm white fillets
-unskinned
2 ts Corn flour
1/2 ts Salt
1/2 ts Sugar
120 ml Egg whites
1 tb Lard; melted & cooled
2 Egg yolks; free-range
Put the ginger & spring onion into a small bowl. Pour in the water.
Add the red vinegar. Squeeze the ginger and spring onion together in
the water. Leave for 2 hours. Strain, reserving the flavoured water.
Put the mushrooms into a small bowl and cover with enough boiling
water to allow them to double in bulk. Leave the mushrooms until
plump and completely softened, 30 to 45 minutes. Drain and rinse
under cold, running water to remove any grit. Trim away the stems,
level with the caps. Cutting at a slight angle, cut the caps in
half. Set aside. Pick over the fish fillets for any scales. Do not
cut out the bones. Quickly rinse under cold, running water. Pat dry
with paper towels. Holding one of the fillets at the tail, use a
cleaver or large-bladed knife to scrape down the length of the
fillet so the flesh comes away from the skin as a fine mash.
Continue scraping but do not include the darker flesh near the
skin. Repeat for all fillets.
Weigh 450 g of mashed fish for soup. Sprinkle a firm, solid
chopping board with corn flour Place the 450 g of mash on the
chopping board. Using one or two cleavers, chop the fish mash to a
puree. As you chop, gradually add 4 tb of the flavoured water.
As you chop, the fish will spread out; scoop it up and turn it
over on itself. Continue chopping until pureed. Put the fish puree
into a large bowl. Add the salt, sugar and another 2 tb of the
flavoured water. Using your hand, and beating in one direction
only, vigorously beat the fish mixture until all water has been
absorbed. Continue beating the mixture. As you beat, very
gradually add all the egg white, then all the lard, to achieve a
paste. Thoroughly combine the mixture after each addition of egg
white and lard. Continue beating the fish paste. As you beat,
repeatedly throw handfuls of the mixture against the side of the
bowl. Beat the mixture until, when thrown against the side of the
bowl, it no longer splatters. The paste will be very soft and
loose. Heat the water for cooking; In a wok, heat 2 to 2 1/2
liters of water until tiny bubbles cling to the sides of wok.
Adjust to maintain water at this temperature.
