White Butterfly Fish Soup

An elegant party menu. The fish is a little fiddly to prepare, but well worth the trouble. Serve the duck first, as a starter to be eaten with the fingers. Noodles or rice should be served with this and light pudding such as Almond Float would end the meal nicely.

White Butterfly Fish Soup ()
    Materials:
    1 small sea bass, about 750 g (1 1/2 lb), cleaned and filled, with skin still on
    600 ml (1 pint) vegetable oil
    100 g (4 oz) rice noodles
    100 ml (3 1/2 fl oz) water
    225 g (8 oz) watercress, washed, cut roughly in half, and blanched
    1.75 litres (3 pints) chicken stock
    large pinch of MSG
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    large pinch of freshly ground white pepper
    1 teaspoon Chinese wine or dry sherry
    2 spring onions, finely chopped
    Preparation time: 30 minutes
    Cooking time: 25 minutes
1. Lie the fish fillet with the skin on the board. Hold the knife at a 45 degree angle and cut a slice which stops before it cuts through the skin. Make the next cut about 5 mm (1/4 inch) away at the same angle but cut right through the skin. What you should have now is a slice of fish with a deep cut dividing it almost in half. Continue until all the fish is sliced up.

2. Heat the oil in a wok until it reaches 180 degree C or 350 degree F, or until a cube of bread browns in 30 seconds, then plunge the rice noodles into the hot oil. They should immediately puff up. Remove them from the oil and drain on paper towels.

3. Pour off the oil from the wok leaving just enough to coat the bottom. Put the water into the wok and heat it until simmering. Gently put the butterflies in separately and remove them when the become opaque in colour. Carefully rinse them in cold water to stop any further cooking.

4. Arrange the blanched watercress in the bottom of a deep soup tureen. Put the rice noodles on the top, and then arrange the butterfiles on top.

5. Heat the chicken stock in a wok. Flavour it with MSG, salt, white pepper and Chinese wine. When ready to serve the soup, pour the boiling stock on top of the arranged fish and sprinkle with the finely chopped spring onions.


<>   Xiaoniu SuChu Hsu (¤p¤û) 1998    suchu@techart.nia.edu.tw