Fish Soup Stock

I always like to buy a whole Batang fish from the NTUC supermarket and get the lady to fillet it for me. It's a whole lot cheaper getting the fillet this way. Most of the time I would keep the head and bones in the freezer after washing the blood away. After three weeks, I would throw them away. Finally managed to admit that this is such a wasteful act. I asked for a simple fish soup stock recipe at Imperial Kitchen and Chinesecook responded with a simple recipe. I adapted it and here's the result of the simple fish soup stock.

Ingredients:

500 gm fish bones and head, cleaned of blood and washed with salt, pepper and rice vinegar.
10 cloves of garlic, smashed with skin intact.
1 no. thumb sized ginger, sliced.
5 stalks of green onions, cut into 4 cm lengths.
1 tbsp Szechuan peppercorns
1.5 litres hot water

Method:

Heat up 2 tbsp oil and fry ginger, garlic, green onions and peppercorns till fragrant.

Add in the fish bones and head and fry till 3/4 done.

Add in the hot water and let the ingredients boil for about 10 mins.

Turn down the fire and simmer, covered for an hour and a half.

You can see meat coming off the bones and the soup turning a little milky.

Strain the soup with a sieve to remove the bones and ingredients.

Season to taste and the fish soup stock is ready.

(I used the stock and just threw in fish balls, tomatoes, beancurd and some coriander leaves for a meal. I also added blanched Chye Sim into the soup.)