When you’ve got that milky broth going, you know you’ve got the soup base right for your fish soup.

It’s been awhile since I made a fish soup and my kids have grown up this pretty traditional Cantonese-styled soup from their grandma, so I decided to make it again in Toronto.

I wasn’t sure what type of fish I’d find at the supermarket for soup making, but it is pretty fully loaded!!   To be honest, you can use any type of fish for fish soup.  However, I would recommend using more of the bones parts of the fish.  The head is the best with the tail being second and then stomach and main body.  The head is packed full of calcium, nutrients, and collagen.  And when boiled out in soup, dissolves into the soup and gives it more of that milky disposition.  It’s truly amazing!  Read on on how to prepare the fish.

• 1 large fish head (or tail) – I used grass carp for this recipe, which I asked the fish vendor to cut into half and quarters
• 2 frozen abalone, defrosted, deshelled, cleaned
• 8 slices of fresh ginger, skin on is ok
• 2 potatoes, largely cube (pan-fried and huge, so they don’t disintegrate completely into the soup)
• 2-3 tomatoes, quartered 
• 10 dried longans
• 1 tablespoon of dried scallops or conpoys
• 1 bunch of fresh green onions
• 2L of water (this amount will serve about 8), especially if you have it on a very low boil (so minimal evaporation)

1. .Start boiling your soup water in a soup pot on high heat
2. Wash, clean, and pat dry your fish
3. In a shallow pan, add in a tablespoon of oil, 8 ginger slices, and a bunch of largely sliced green onions on medium-high heat.  Let that brown a bit.
4. Throw in your fish, browning as much of it as you can.  It doesn’t need to be fully cooked, just crisp the edges and meat on all sides.  Once done, you can turn off the heat.
5. Once your soup water boils, add in the fried fish along with the dried longans and dried scallops.
6. Reduce that to a medium boil
7. You can now peel and cut the potatoes into giant chunks
8. In a shallow pan on medium-high heat, add a tablespoon of oil and brown all the sides of the potatoes, as crispy as you can get.  This crust will keep the potatoes in tack as it boils and softens.
9. Once that browns, throw it into your soup.
10. Cut up the tomatoes into large quarters and drop that into your soup as well
11. You can then prepare the abalone and drop into your soup.
12. Reduce to a low boil for about 2-3 hours.  I did 3 hours for this.
13. By now, you should have a beautiful milky broth.  Throw in scallions for taste.
14. Serve and enjoy!