Fish soup with pickled mustard greens

Your ingredients

Get ready: Kitchen scales, chopping board, mixing bowls, measuring spoons and a suitable saucepan or frying pan.

• 🐟680 g boneless basa or other firm white-fish fillets
• 🐟Fish coating: 1 tbsp unsalted stock, 2 tsp cornflour, ¼ tsp white pepper and ⅛ tsp salt
• 🥣200 g Chinese pickled mustard greens, suan cai
• 🥣4 tbsp neutral oil, divided
• 🥣1 tsp minced ginger
• 🥣5 garlic cloves, minced
• 🥬3 spring onions, sliced
• 🥣1 tbsp chopped pickled chillies, optional
• 💧600 ml water or unsalted stock
• 🍯1 tsp sugar
• 🥬¼ tsp white pepper
• 🥣3–5 dried chillies, chopped
• 🥬1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
• 🥜1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Let’s make it

1. Prepare fish and greens

   Check fish carefully for bones, then slice diagonally into thin pieces. Mix with coating ingredients. Rinse mustard greens, taste a little and soak briefly if very salty. Drain, squeeze and chop.

2. Build the broth

   Heat 2 tablespoons oil and gently fry ginger, two-thirds of the garlic and spring onion, and optional pickled chilli. Add greens and stir-fry for a minute. Add water, sugar and white pepper; boil, then simmer for 3 minutes.

3. Poach gently

   Lower fish slices into the gently simmering broth individually. Leave them mostly undisturbed until opaque, firm and steaming hot throughout, about 3–5 minutes depending on thickness.

4. Finish without pouring hot oil

   In a small separate pan, gently sizzle the remaining oil, garlic, onion, dried chillies, Sichuan pepper and sesame. Spoon this aromatic topping over the fish. You get the fragrance with a more controlled finishing step.