Preparation
5 minutes
Cooking
10 minutes
Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Sour Leaf Soup with Catfish Serves 4
Catfish 400 gr (1 fish) Sour leaves 100 gr Basil 3 branches Shallots 4 bulbs Chili 1 piece Cooking oil 2 tablespoons Fish sauce 1 tablespoon Common spices a little (MSG/ sugar/ salt)
How to Choose Fresh Ingredients
How to choose fresh catfish
- You should choose fish that are still alive, moving actively, with an intact body without wounds or strange white spots on the body.
- The freshest catfish will be those that are older with a plump round body, firm body, and the head and body must be balanced with each other.
- Avoid choosing fish that have injuries, meat that is no longer elastic, soft and mushy, with a foul smell, and dark red gills, which often indicates that they have gone bad, and the flesh of the fish is not delicious.
Information about sour leaf and how to choose and buy
- The sour leaf plant is also known by other familiar names such as hibiscus, sour hibiscus, red artichoke,… Its scientific name is Hibiscus sabdariffla L.
- It is a type of shrub plant, about 1.5 – 2m tall, branching close to the base, with a stem color similar to beetroot. The leaves are egg-shaped, flowers are solitary, growing close to the axil, almost without a peduncle, the petals are yellow, with the corolla being pink-purple, sometimes white.
- The sour leaf plant often grows abundantly in natural conditions in hilly areas that are not too high, in the humid hot weather of our country.
- This type of vegetable has a very refreshing sour taste, so it is commonly used by people to make sour soups, various jams, beverages, syrups,…
- When buying sour leaves, one should choose those with beautiful bright green color.
- Observe the leaf surface to ensure there are no signs of pests or black spots.
- To have the freshest, greenest, and most delicious sour leaves, you should harvest or buy them during the rainy months from early May to the end of October.
- Avoid buying sour leaves that are turning yellow because these leaves are wilting and will not taste good.
How to choose fresh and delicious chili
- Good chili peppers are those with bright red color and shiny skin.
- They should have a stem that is firmly attached to the chili because these are freshly picked peppers, thus they will be more delicious and appealing.
- Avoid selecting chili peppers with black spots, soft and mushy texture, or an unusual foul smell.
-800x450.jpg "How to Cook Simple Sour Vegetable Soup with Catfish at Home 2")
How to make Sour Vegetable Soup with Catfish
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Prepare the catfish
To save time on preparation, you can ask the seller to clean the fish for you, then at home, just eliminate the fishy smell by rinsing it thoroughly with diluted saltwater.
Then rinse with clean water about 2 – 3 times, and cut the fish into small pieces that are about 2 finger lengths long.
Tips for cleaning catfish
- Use a mixture of coarse salt, cooking vinegar, and lemon juice, rub it evenly over the entire body of the fish and rinse with water; this tip will help reduce some of the slime and fishy smell on the fish’s body.
- Next, mix a little coarse salt into warm water and use it to rinse the fish once more. But to completely clean the remaining slime on the fish, use a knife to gently scrape the fish’s body.
- Finally, cut off the two blood clots located close to the gills and rinse the fish again with diluted lemon juice to completely eliminate the fishy smell.
See details: How to effectively clean catfish of slime and fishy smell
- Use a mixture of coarse salt, cooking vinegar, and lemon juice, rub it evenly over the entire body of the fish and rinse with water; this tip will help reduce some of the slime and fishy smell on the fish’s body.
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Prepare other ingredients
Sour vegetable leaves, you should remove any damaged leaves, then wash them thoroughly, let them drain, and cut them into bite-sized pieces about 1/2 finger length to enhance the sour flavor.
For basil, just pick the leaves, wash them with water, and let them drain.
Shallots should be peeled, and the chili should have its stem removed and washed clean.
Finally, put the shallots and chili into a mortar and pound them until they are finely mashed.
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Cooking sour vegetable soup with catfish
Place a pot on the stove, add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil into the pot, wait for the oil to heat up, then add minced garlic and chili, sauté until fragrant, then add about 1 liter of water and boil over high heat.
When the water boils, add the catfish and cook for 5 – 7 minutes until the fish is cooked.
When the fish is cooked, add the sour vegetable leaves and season with a mixture of spices including: 1 teaspoon of monosodium glutamate, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, and stir gently.
Continue to boil the soup for another 2 – 3 minutes, then add the basil leaves, adjust the seasoning to taste, and turn off the heat.
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Final Product
Serve the soup in a bowl and enjoy the soup while it’s still hot. The soup has a strong aromatic smell from the onion, chili, and basil, making it perfect for a hot lunch. When sipping the broth, you will taste a slight sourness from the sour leaf, accompanied by the slightly chewy and flavorful catfish. Eating it with spicy chili sauce is fantastic.
See more
Hope that through the detailed instructions above, you can successfully make sour leaf catfish soup that is delicious and appealing for the whole family to enjoy! Wish you success!
*Source of the recipe and images shared from Facebook: Xuân Bee
