Bowl of Fish Soup with Roasted Herbs
(click to enlarge)

Fish Soup with Roasted Herbs


Laos   -   Tome Jail Pa
Serves:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 4 soup
***
1-3/4 hrs
Prep		 This recipe makes 4-3/4 cups, enough for 4 soup courses or two main dish soups. It can be made ahead, but for good color, don't stir in the Leek mix until ready to serve.
Grilling small items is quick and convenient in Southeast Asia, where kitchen fires are live most of the day - not so much here in the West - see Comments.

8
8
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1
1
2
6
1
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4
3
1
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1/3
1
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1/4
2
1/4
oz
oz
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in
oz
cl

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c
c
---
t
T
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c

c
Fish Fillet (1)
Mushrooms (2)
-- Roasted
Lemongrass stalk (3)  
Ginger Root
Shallots
Garlic
Chili, green (4)
-- Broth
Kaffir Lime Leaf (5)
Stock (6)
Water
-- Seasoning
Salt
Fish Sauce (7)
-----------------
Leeks (8)
Scallions
Dill, fresh (9)
Prep   -   (1 hr)
  1. Cut FISH FILLETS into bite size chunks.
  2. Cut MUSHROOMS into shreds.
  3. Peel off toughest outer leaves of LEMON GRASS. Cut off the hard root end. Cut the bottom 10 inches into 3 lengths.
  4. Cut GINGER into 1/4 inch thick slices.
  5. Peel SHALLOTS and cut in half lengthwise.
  6. Peel GARLIC.
  7. Roast all Roasted items until medium browned on all sides - see Note-10. Note that some items will brown much more quickly than others.
  8. Lightly smash Ginger and Lemon Grass. In a suitable sauce pan, mix them with all Broth items.
  9. Coarsely chop roasted Shallots, Garlic and Chili. Mix.
  10. Coarsely chop SCALLIONS (white and green), LEEKS and DILL. Mix.
Run   -   (45 min)
  1. Place the saucepan with the Broth mix on high flame and bring it to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.
  2. Remove Solids from the broth and discard. There should be at least 2-1/3 cups of broth left.
  3. Bring back to a boil and stir in the Roasted mix, Mushrooms and Seasonings. Bring back to a boil and simmer about 3 minutes.
  4. Stir in the Fish. Return to a boil and simmer for 1 minute.
  5. Stir in Leek mix. Bring back to a boil and immediately take off the heat.
  6. Serve hot
NOTES:

  1. Fish Fillet:

      Snapper or any white fish that holds together reasonably well with wet cooking will do fine. The photo example was made with Tilapia fillets, which is what we had on hand.

  2. Mushrooms:

      The pattern recipe calls for Oyster Mushrooms. Some of new firm Oyster Mushrooms will work fine. For details see our Fungus page.

  3. Lemon Grass:

      An essential for Southeast Asian cuisines, these tough grass stems are now widely available in North American markets that serve a Southeast Asian community. I've even seen them in some Korean markets. For details see our Lemon Grass page.
  4. Chili, Green:   Around here we have choices, Korean (mildest), Indian (hotter), Serranos (hot), Thai (hottest, but small). In most regions you may have only Serranos, and will probably not want to use more than half of one - use your own best judgement here. For details see our Thai Chilis page.

  5. Kaffir Lime Leaves:

      These come 2 to a stem, so this recipe will need 2 stems. For details See our Kaffir Lime page. If you don't have them, grate the zest of the limes before you squeeze them for lime juice.

  6. Stock:

      In Southeast Asia the stock is not necessarily keyed to the main ingredient, so either a Fish Stock or Chicken Stock can be used.

  7. Fish Sauce:

      This clear liquid is as essential to Southeast Asian cuisine as it was to Imperial Rome. If your are unfamiliar with it, see our Fish Sauce - Introduction page.

  8. Leeks:

      White part only. This is more practical with Asian Leeks which are much thinner than common supermarket leeks. They are easily available in Los Angeles, but not in most regions.

  9. Dill:

      It may seem odd to use Dill in Southeast Asian cuisines, but it is now quite common through what was French Indochina (Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia).

  10. Comments:

      Roasting a small amount of ingredients is rather inconvenient in the Western kitchen. I gave this a lot of thought, and suddenly realized I had just the tool to make it quick and easy - hanging unused in the far corner: a Japanese Mesh Toaster Pan Even if you have such a device, I recommend blasting the Green Chili black with your Kitchen Torch and rubbing off the skin under running water. This avoids having annoying flakes of chili skin floating around in the soup.
  11. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch, ar=as required tt=to taste
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