Easy soup with dried seaweed and traditional fish balls. I have made a large batch of fish balls and they turn out so amazing and so much better than previous ones, so I get the possibility to make a small groups of dishes with fish balls. The most common usage for fish balls is to make curry fish balls or cook some with soups, either noodle soup or pure soups.
Dries seaweed (紫菜) is a popular soup ingredient in Chinese cuisine with a quite long history. It is considered as the best plant source of umami. So the soup combines the plant umami and protein. Usually, we make seaweed with egg drops. Within only 15 minutes, we can present a pot of yummy soup for our family members.
Combining seaweed and fish meat in a soup is believed to be the most smart way of enjoying plant umami and protein umami. Although a few common ingredients are called in the soup, it produces a rich flavor.
Ingredients
- 20 fish balls, store bought or homemade fish balls
- 4g dried seaweed
- 2l water
- 1/4 tsp. white pepper
- 1.5 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. sesame oil
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1 thumb ginger, smashed and cut into small sections
- 1 cup of chopped green onion and coriander
Steps
Get a large soup pot, add water and ginger. Bring to a boil.
Slow down the fire and gently put the fish balls in. Heat until boiling with medium fire and then simmer for 20 minutes over slowest fire so the flavors of the fish balls can influence the water.
Turn up the fire and add dried seaweed in.
Boil for another 2 minutes. Turn off fire, add white pepper, light soy sauce, salt and sesame oil. Serve with chopped green onion and coriander.
Fish Ball Soup
Ingredients
- 20 fish balls ,store bought or homemade ones
- 4 g dried seaweed
- 2 l water
- 1/4 tsp. white pepper
- 1.5 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. sesame oil
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1 thumb ginger ,smashed and cut into small sections
- 1 cup of chopped green onion and coriander
Instructions
- Get a large soup pot, add water and ginger. Bring to a boil.
- Slow down the fire and gently put the fish balls in. Heat until boiling with medium fire and then simmer for 20 minutes over slowest fire so the flavors of the fish balls can influence the water.
- Turn up the fire and add dried seaweed in. Boil for another 2 minutes. Turn off fire, add white pepper, light soy sauce, salt and sesame oil.
- Serve with chopped green onion and coriander.
Nutrition
I make this over and over. It is so easy and delicious, especially with the fish balls from the asian market! Thank you for sharing your skill and expertise! The photos really help and your English is outstanding.
Hi Maureen，
Thanks for trying and lovely feedback.
Can whiting be used?
Andy,
Sorry I cannot give an accurate answer. I never cooked with whiting and have no idea about it’s features.
OMG! This is delicious!! that being said, as much as I hate when someone reviews a recipe and changes, or substitutes almost every ingredient……..all I did was add a little roasted shrimp broth to the water (because I had it). and I’m sure it made it a little different, most of the recipe is yours and it is simple, quick and amazing!
I’ve had these fish balls in the freezer for a while and since soup season is ending soon, here in GA, I wanted to go ahead and do something with them. Can’t wait for dinner now!
Marlene!
Thanks so much for your wonderful comment, made my day really. I get lots of struggling about simple and home friendly recipes and complicated recipe which can show skills. Then in the past two years, I tried very hard to introduce simple and home cooking friendly recipes and then simplify the complicated ones. I want to show how to cook delicious Chinese food for beginners, even not good at cooking! You know me, really. You know me.
This looks like a delicious pot of soup. I recently came home from the grocery store with a package of fish balls and i’d like to make it but I DO have a question about the type of seaweed that I can use. I have some dried wakame seaweed in the pantry. Do you think it would be suitable?
is there alternative to dried seaweed? or can I opt out not putting one?
You can use mushrooms or other ingredient which can contribute to the umami of the soup.