A feeling of dryness in my throat reminds me of making this traditional Chinese soup (莞茜皮蛋魚片湯) I grew up eating, a soup known for curing sore throat.
But this is not a soup only for the sick. You may find it here in Hong Kong in almost all hot pot (aka steamboat) restaurants where this soup is served as one of the broths for poaching foods. What we believe is, hot pot, like deep frying, add heat to foods and thereby to our bodies. So I guess there comes the idea of including this soup, which is also said to be good for tempering heat, as a broth for hot pots.
This soup, however, not too often healed my soar throat. Yet it did help soothing the syndromes like swollen gum and dried throat usually happened when I went to bed late.
I love the aroma of boiled coriander. While the soup was being cooked, my kitchen simply smelled gorgeous. Besides, it is quick to prepare and tastes delicious.
- Ingredients
- 8-10 sprigs coriander (also commonly called cilantro)
- 1 century egg
- 150g fish fillet
- 3 cups water
- salt to taste
- sesame oil, optional
- 1 tsp julienned ginger, optional
- Marinades for fish fillet
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp ground white pepper
- 1/4 tsp corn starch
- 1/8 tsp oil
Method
Rinse fish fillet, pat dry, then cut it into about 1/4cm thick slices. Marinade them and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. The most popular type of fish used for making this soup is grass carp, but the tilefish I used this time is also very nice.
Rinse corianders (soak them in water before rinsing will help remove dirts); discard any bruised leaves, scrape roots but leaving them intact.
Shell the century egg. Rinse it, quarter, and dice them into your preferred sizes.
In a pot and over high heat, bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Add in diced century egg and sprigs of rinsed coriander. As soon as the water boils again, switch to low-medium heat. After a couple of minutes, the soup will turn foamy. To prevent it from spilling over, rest the lid slightly opened.
Keep boiling for about 15 minutes when the soup become greenish grey, then add in fish slices and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes or till they are done. Before putting in fish fillet, I remove the cooked coriander sprigs to avoid them strangling the meat. But the corianders are tasty and good for eating.
Serve hot, add salt to taste and enjoy with a dash of ginger slivers and sesame oil.
Ivory Low 