Fish Head Soup

This is not difficult to make and it’s absolutely delicious. Here’s the recipe for those of you wishing to get homemade  Fish Head Soup.

1 medium-sized Grouper fish head (approx. 800g)

1 inch ginger, sliced

1 pc tomato, cut into 8 pcs

1 box soft-white tofu, cut into 3-cm cube

3 cups of water

Pepper & salt

Oil for deep-frying

1 stalk of spring onion, cut into 1-in in length

Grouper (Garupa or ‘sek-pan’ in Cantonese) fish head, cut into 2 from the mouth straight thru’ to the dorsal fin. The fishmonger will do it at your request.

1.   Wash and clean and pat dry the fish head. Rub some salt all over the fish head including some in the cavity.

2.   Heat enough oil (to cover the fish head), approximately 250 ml in a wok and deep-fry at medium flame, the fish head till crispy golden. Turn and make sure the other side also cooked till golden brown. If your wok is small, you may not be able to fry the both pieces together.

3.   Dish up and drain well on paper towel.

4.   Discard the oil, as it would have fishy smell.

5.   Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil (I use sunflower seed oil) and sauté the ginger till fragrant.

6.   Lightly dust some pepper into the fish cavity and put the deeply-fried fish head back into the wok to gently fry with the ginger for a minute or 2.

7.   Pour in 4 cups of hot water.

8.   When the soup starts boiling, put in tomatoes, and soft tofu.

9.   Bring soup to boil, simmer for about 5 minutes. If you simmer too long, the fish will be softened and may break into pieces. 

10. Season with more pepper and salt to taste.

11. Lastly, put in spring onion and turn off flame.

Serve hot, enough for 3 pax.

Alternatively, you may also add in a slice of grouper block cut or tail when frying fish head. Kids may not be able to enjoy the fish head with poky bones here and there. Sometimes, if I can't find Grouper fish head, I'll get red snapper or kurau.

Fish head is a MUST to get the real ‘sweet’ taste of fish, the succulent flesh of the fish ‘cheek’ is indescribable (this is my favorite anatomy of the fish), and the hot ginger-flavored with slightly sourish soup makes you long for another bowl!