Delicious Sour Soup with Fish and Pomelo
When cooking sour soup with fish, besides tomatoes, pineapple, vinegar, or pickled mustard greens... try to cook along with pomelo, the sweet and sour taste will surely make you find it extremely delicious.
Ingredients
- 4 ripe pomelos ~ 250g
- 700g fish (snakehead, carp or red tilapia are all fine)
- 4 tomatoes ~ 350g
- 2 dried onions, 3-4 garlic cloves, 1 small ginger
- 100g bean sprouts
- Green onions, dill, 1 hot pepper
- Salt
- Vegetables to eat along (if any)
- Spices: seasoning powder, MSG, broth mix, fish sauce
Instructions
Fish Preparation
Purchase the fish and clean it thoroughly with coarse salt to remove any fishy smell, then rinse well and let it drain. You can use a variety of fish for this sour soup recipe, such as carp, snakehead fish, perch, tilapia, or red tilapia.
For a 700g fish, marinate it with:
- 1 teaspoon of seasoning powder
- 2 tablespoons of fish sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper
Blend the ingredients evenly and let the fish marinate for about 10-15 minutes.
Prepping the Other Ingredients
Rinse the pomelos thoroughly in salt water, cut off the stalks, and slice into bite-sized pieces. You can eat the whole pomelo, but it's recommended to remove the seeds, even though they're incredibly fragrant, to avoid choking.
Most of the tomatoes should be diced to thicken the broth and add color. The remaining tomatoes should be cut into wedges and added towards the end of the cooking process to enhance the soup's freshness and make it more visually appealing.
Rinse the bean sprouts in salt water and let them drain.
Chop the dried onions, garlic, and ginger finely.
Rinse the spring onions and dill, then chop finely. Slice the chili peppers diagonally. The spiciness of the peppers will help to mask any fishy smell.
Pan Fry the Fish
After marinating the fish, pan fry it lightly to firm up the flesh and enhance its flavor. There's no need to fry it too intensely, as this can dry out the fish. Simply sear all sides of the fish lightly.
Set the pan-fried fish aside in a separate bowl or plate.
Cooking the Fish Sour Soup
Add a little cooking oil to the pot, you can use the oil used to fry the fish. As the oil heats up, add onions, garlic, and ginger and sauté until fragrant.
Next, add the diced tomatoes and pomelos. Stir well to ensure these ingredients absorb the oil evenly, then add the fish. Add an extra tablespoon of fish sauce. Reduce the heat, cover the pot, and cook for about 5-6 minutes until the fish is fully cooked, and the tomatoes and pomelos have released their mild sour and sweet flavors.
After about 5-6 minutes, add water to make the soup. Use hot water to prevent the fish from emitting a fishy smell. About 1.2-1.5 liters of water should be enough for four servings.
When the soup boils, add the bean sprouts and tomato wedges. When the soup returns to a boil, season to taste with soup powder and seasoning powder. If you prefer a more sour taste, you can add more pomelos or vinegar. If you prefer a sweeter soup, you can add a touch more sugar.
After seasoning, add spring onions, dill, and chili peppers. Stir well, then turn off the heat and ladle the soup into bowls.
The sour fish soup with pomelos offers a tantalizing flavor. The soup is aromatic, sweet, and mildly sour, with the fish providing a rich taste that is refreshing and appetizing. The soup can be served with raw vegetables, herbs, and crispy pickled eggplant, and if served with a side of charred meat, it's sure to make a hearty meal.
The pomelo season is quite short, usually from early March to late April or early May. Pomelos from the western region of Vietnam cost around 50,000-70,000 VND per kilogram, while Thai pomelos are more expensive, ranging from 130,000 to 150,000 VND per kilogram. Besides making sour fish soup, pomelos can be used in sour soup with minced meat or cooked into jam, or used to make a delicious sauce for grilled rabbit.
