Fragrant Potatoes and Tomatoes in a Milky Fish Broth

by | Nov 17, 2022 | Fall Soups, NEW 2, Soups for Children, Spring Soups, Summer Soups, Winter Soups | 0 comments

Soup Name:

Fragrant potatoes and tomatoes in a milky fish broth (yup, fancy name!)

Traditional Chinese Name:

番茄魚湯 (fānqié yú tāng)

This name of 番茄魚湯 is literally the most staple name for any soup with fish and tomatoes in it.  Of course, get creative!

This soup is neutral in nature sweet to taste.

 

For videos, visit us on YouTube.

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.

 

What’s involved?

Prep time: 45 mins

Cook time: 3 hours

Total time: 3 hours 45 mins

Serves: 8 bowls

Ingredients

Tips before you start!

  •  Pan-fry in ginger and oil (add scallions if you’d like) the first before you add it to the soup.  This will make it more fragrant and eliminate the fishy smell and taste.
  • Also pan-fry the potatoes on high heat, crusting all sides (doesn’t need to be fully cooked).  This will keep it together in the soup and prevent it from dissolving and disappearing in the soup (and makes it super fragrant)
  • Salt fish very lightly if you’d like.  For this version, I actually didn’t salt at all!  It turned out amazing and people can add salt afterwards as they like. 
Cooking Instructions
  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!

My kids loved this soup!  It’s something they grew up with and eat the potatoes as part of the soup.

I normally don’t keep fish soup overnight, but somehow I wanted to save some for the day after and when I went back to reheat it, the soup was congealed!!  It was amazing!  This means that the collagen (and there’s a lot) has hardened and simply gently reheat and enjoy again!

For those who love eating fish heads, I also didn’t use a soup bag as the grass carp head was pretty large.  A lot of the meat does stay in tack and have separated from the bones, so you can “fish” for them at the bottom of the soup with a scooper!  Enjoy!!

 

For videos, visit us on YouTube.

EXPLORE MORE

Green Radish and Carrots Chinese Chicken Soup

Soup Name: Green Radish and Carrots Chinese Chicken Soup Traditional Chinese Name: 青紅蘿蔔雞湯 (qing hóng luóbo yù mǐ jī tāng) Nature:  Cooling Taste: Sweet and savory For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube. Traditionally in the Cantonese soup repertoire, this green...

Healing Chinese Herbal Soup

Soup Name: Healing Chinese Herbal Soup Traditional Chinese Name: 北芪黨參消腫養陰湯 (běi qí dǎngshēn xiāo zhǒng yǎng yīn tāng) For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.This soup is perfect for anyone who wants to replenish and strengthen blood and qi, has poor...

Simple Roasted Chicken Congee

Soup Name: Roasted (leftover) Chicken Congee Traditional Chinese Name: 烤雞粥 (kǎo jī zhōu) What’s the Best Chinese Comfort Food? Hot Homemade Congee!When it comes to leftovers, congee with meats is the ultimate!  The best are with left over roasted chicken (even Costco...

Pu’er Chinese Tea: A Traditional Chinese Medicinal Perspective

A PU'ER Chinese (TEA) LOVE STORYChinese pu'er tea:  Why I love it! As part of my overall health regime.One guiding principle in Traditional Chinese Medicine is the yin yang theory.  In the natural world, there exists a balance between 2 opposing and co-existing forces...

A Quick Dinner Macaroni in Vegetable Soup

Soup Name: Macaroni in a quick boil vegetable soup (a quickie dinner) Traditional Chinese Name: 雜菜湯 (zá cài tāng) This soup is warming in nature and sweet to taste. For more videos on soups and teas, you can follow us on YouTube.   This is one of our families'...

Healing Chinese Herbal Soup

Soup Name: Healing Chinese Herbal Soup Traditional Chinese Name: 北芪黨參消腫養陰湯 (běi qí dǎngshēn xiāo zhǒng yǎng yīn tāng) For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.This soup is perfect for anyone who wants to replenish and strengthen blood and qi, has poor...

Simple Roasted Chicken Congee

Soup Name: Roasted (leftover) Chicken Congee Traditional Chinese Name: 烤雞粥 (kǎo jī zhōu) What’s the Best Chinese Comfort Food? Hot Homemade Congee!When it comes to leftovers, congee with meats is the ultimate!  The best are with left over roasted chicken (even Costco...

Chinese Herbal Soup with Abalone

Soup Name: Chicken Herbal Soup with Abalone  Traditional Chinese Name: 鮑魚清雞湯 (bào yú qīng jī tāng) This soup is warming in nature and sweet to taste. Visit us on YouTube for more tea and soup videos.One of my favourite basic chicken Chinese soups - ever!  And it's...

Sweet Rice Cakes for Chinese New Year’s!

Happy Chinese New Year's!! Wishing you and your family a very happy, healthy, and beautiful year of the rabbit!! As a tradition, the Chinese will eat what's called "New Year's Cake".  It's basically sweetened rice and glutinous rice flour pan fried until soft and...

Cooling and Calming Chrysanthemum and Roselle (Hibiscus) Honey Tea

Tea Name: Chrysanthemum and Roselle (Hibiscus) Honey Tea Traditional Chinese Name: 菊花茶 (jú huā chá) This tea is sweet and sour to taste and cooling in nature.Visit us on YouTube for more tea and soup videos.Taking a moment?  Want something calming and soothing?  Try...