Clear Fish Soup
Submitted by bob5ky
A delicate Chinese clear fish soup with blanched fish fillets, spinach, bamboo shoots, and a splash of sherry, finished with sizzling peanut oil. Light, clean, and ready in 30 minutes.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
10 minREADY
30 minSometimes the simplest soups have the most to say.
This Chinese-style clear soup is all about restraint: a clean chicken broth base with tender pieces of blanched fish, bright spinach, and paper-thin bamboo shoots. A splash of sherry adds warmth, and a drizzle of sizzling peanut oil stirred in at the very end brings a nutty fragrance that ties everything together.
The technique here matters more than the ingredient list. Blanching the fish and spinach separately before adding them to the broth keeps everything clean and clear.
Kitchen Tips
- Keep the broth at a gentle simmer, never a rolling boil. Boiling breaks the fish apart and clouds the soup.
- Blanch the fish for just 15 seconds. It finishes cooking in the hot broth and stays silky.
- Any mild white fish works here: cod, sole, snapper, or tilapia.
- Heat the peanut oil in a ladle directly over the flame until it just shimmers, then stir it into the soup. That sizzle releases the aroma.
Ingredients
Directions
Heat chicken broth.
Cut fish fillets into 1 by 2 inch pieces.
Cut off root ends of spinach and thoroughly wash.
Slice bamboo shoots into paper-thin strips; add to stock as it is heating.
Using wire strainer, blanch fish pieces in boiling water for 15 seconds, reserve.
Add salt to water.
Blanch spinach for 10 seconds, drain and reserve.
When stock reaches rapid simmer (don’t let it boil), add fish, spinach and sherry.
Cook for 3 minutes.
Heat peanut oil in ladle over flame.
Mix oil into soup, transfer to serving bowl, and serve.
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