97. 98. SOUPS (and SOUPY) - Fish Soup & Fish Stews

FISH SOUP 

FISH SOUP BASES / SOUPS

Teochew - clean, plain, simple tastes - 2 types

Teochew - plain fish soup

Teochew - kiam chye (salted mustard veg), sng buei (sour plum)

Cantonese - milky, gingery with shaoxing chinese wine, fried fish

Sichuan - Mala 

Home Cooked - almost anything goes

TEOCHEW STYLE FISH SOUP STOCK - ingredients used 

(depending on the taste you want)

- ikan bilis or ikan bilis powder

- ti poh or dried sole fish - roast and grind into a powder

- fish head and fish bones - coated with cornflour and deep fried

- dried cuttlefish - grilled or fried (careful not to burn!)

- dried prawns, dried scallops - soaked with shaoxing wine

15 April 2023

batang fish, cut into 8 small fillet pieces

i then cut about 4 fillet pieces into bite pieces and slices.

marinated batang fish for soup

- batang fish slices (bones removed) - 

fish was soaked in salt water, then remove liquid 

- learnt this from the fishmongers when i lived in woodlands

(fish meat will become slippery and smooth!)

- salt and white pepper

- shaoxing chinese wine

- ginger water, sliced ginger

- light soya sauce

- fish sauce

- sesame oil

(remember, no need cornflour)

Recipe - Batang Fish Soup

1. Slice batang into bite sized pieces, remove bones

2. marinate batang fish for soup

- salt and white pepper

- shaoxing chinese wine

- ginger water, sliced ginger

- light soya sauce

- fish sauce

- sesame oil

3. fish soup stock

- ikan bilis (i use ikan bilis stock cube)

- ti poh / dried sole powder

- ginger slices 

(young ginger is good for eating, 

old ginger is good for flavours)

- fried garlic, bawang goreng

- salt, fish sauce, light soya sauce, white pepper

- shaoxing chinese wine

- chinese cabbage - stalks (hard part, save the leaves for later)

4. boil fishballs till they float, 

heat through crab sticks, 

remove and set aside

5. add chinese cabbage leaves and tomato slices

6. add fish and boil till almost cooked. turn off fire.

add shaoxing wine and sesame oil.

add in the fishballs, crabstick pieces.

7. garnish with coriander, spring onions, fried garlic, serve hot.

did a similar soup with Ang Sai (Emperor Red Snapper)

fishmonger says i can steam it or make fish curry

small ang sai fish head $11

i decided to steam/stew it...

OTHER SOUP BASES FOR STEAMBOATS & HOT POTS:

Teochew fish & seafood soup

- add panggang tee poh/ikan bilis mix, ground to powder, 

- kiam chye, 

- tomatoes, 

- sng buei x8, 

- chicken or pork bones

August 2019

below: teochew style fish soup at whampoa market

fish soup (batang fish) with rice at whampoa food centre & wet market
the tau cheo sauce is so yummy!!! 

Most teochew style fish soup come with...
tomatoes, black seaweed, bittergourd, 

pang chye (local lettuce), ice berg lettuce, 

pak choy or chye sim,

coriander, fried shallots

tau cheo or fermented brown soya bean & chilli dip

4 Feb 2020 Tues
fish soup at tekka - so good!
this bowl costs $6 for pomfret and extra $2 for batang fish

tues, 11 feb 2020 - pomfret teochew fish soup at tekka market

3 Jan 2023

lunch - fish soup at whampoa - this one isn't nice to eat. fish isn't even fresh. but it looks good.

17 Feb 2023

below: 3 batang fish soup @$6/serve from boon lay market - very nice!

28 March 2023 Tues

breakfast - fish soup and rice at telok blangah coffeeshop, market was closed

21 March 2023 Tues 

lunch - fish soup and meatball 

from hoover fish soup, whampoa market

17 March 2023 Fri

lunch - jannah and i went to 628 amk for fish soup!

16 March 2023 Thu

dinner - teochew pomfret steamboat! (kovan)

7 March 2023 Tues

breakfast - telok blangah crescent market

teochew fish soup with rice - very nice!

2 March 2023 Thu

went vicom and lunch at 628 market - 

finally get to eat this fish soup! (old man)

13 Jan 2024

chong boon market

batang and red grouper fish soup with pork meatballs $12

shared with jannah

2023-2024 - 

grouper fish soup at woodleigh mall 

- total $10.50 for L Bowl

$9.50 for large bowl + $0.50 bittergourd + $0.50 rice

13 May 2023 Sat

yesterday after changi lunch, we went to Giant tampines

bought some veggies and fresh red snapper fillets!! 

so excited!!

so cooked them today - boiled in a soup

(because i forgot to wash off the salt after soaking them in salt!)

for the same lot of red snapper fillets, 

i cooked in a butter mustard gravy

6 jun 2019
GROUPER PEPPER FISH SOUP!

mummy was craving for this soup - 

she said her grandma used to cook this.

Fresh Grouper in Lada Soup seasoned with only a few items:
white pepper, fish sauce and fried garlic.

eat the fish with steamed rice and a chilli dip (choose your fav!)
today, i had the thai chilli dip
- chillipadi, corriander, garlic, fish sauce, light soya sauce, lime juice

other days i might try these dips:
- tau cheo, chilli & finely sliced ginger dip
- sng mi chou
- sambal blachan (but i find this too "heavy")

below- what i wrote to an aussie friend:

fried garlic, salt & pepper. plenty of white pepper - till soup is spicy. u can use plain chicken stock (no herbs in stock).  my mum used water - just enough for your soup bowl. if u like soy or fish sauce u can add some. 

we cook like this with prawns, squid and meat too. 

oh and seafood cant cook for long. turn off fire once color of seafood turns. for meat, u need to make sure it's cooked. well, think of how the japanese are like with their shabu shabu... they don't overcook and most ingredients are sliced. 

if u hv a chinese fishmonger, ask whether their fish or prawns or squid is good for steaming. only the freshest can steam or make a soup. if they tell u the seafood is only for frying, it's either not as fresh or it has a taste not suitable for direct steaming/soups. chinese fishmongers can debone/fillet & slice the fish for you too. better still, go buy your seafood with a chinese friend who knows all these Lol 

oh. i think i wrote my food blog here😬