• one-half salmon bones (head + tail)
• 3-4 slices of fresh ginger (sorry not pictured!)
• 2 fresh tomatoes
• 3 fresh potatoes
• 4 pieces of 1-inch fresh Chinese Yam
• 8 dried red dates
• 8 dried longans
• 2.5 L of water
• salt as optional

1. Let’s start by frying the fish first in some ginger to seal the flavours and get it fragrant (and not fishy).  You can use a shallow pan or your soup pot (that’s what I’m doing in my cast iron pot because I was feeling lazy!).
2. I’ll wash the fish in warm water first and then pat dry with paper towels.
3. In your pot or pan on medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil (enough to cover the pan) and then gently lay your fish flat so as much surface area of the fish can cook
4. At this time, I will also make space for the pork shank to fry (instead of blanch in boiling water).  This is also because I was feeling lazy and wanted that fried fragrant flavour!
5. Fry for 5 minutes or until it begins to golden brown.  It doesn’t need to be fully cooked, but at least the skin is browned. 
6. Turn the fish on the other side and fry for another 5 minutes.  
7. You can also rotate the pork shank around as it browns.
8. At this time, you can prepare your vegetables, cut into smaller pieces.
9. If you want, you can now put your fish pieces into a soup bag to begin the soup boiling to prevent the bones to disintegrate and for easier removal from the pot.
10. I will also use the pan or pot to brown some of the potatoes, but this step is optional
11. Add in the water to the soup, be sure to leave a bit of space to allow for the all ingredients
12. Then add in all your ingredients to the soup
13. Cover and bring to a full boil (about 20 minutes on full boil)
14. And reduce to a low boil for another 2 hours
15. Serve and enjoy!

This soup is also packed full of collagen!  The fish heads are the key ingredients that really to release all this sticky goodness into the soup.  One of the amazing things of using fish heads is both to not waste any part of the fish and also the amount of amazing collagen that’s available in the soup!

To answer your questions on what equipment I'm using, I've built a section here where you can find and explore what I'm using to make soups.  Ingredients are a little harder, but I will do my best as I source them around.  However, you can always message me on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or Facebook, and I will reply and try to point you in some direction!  

Stove top safe tea pot (for herbal teas)

I use these types of stove top safe tea pots to make most of my herbal teas!