Japanese snapper soup

This nourishing soup is enriched with flavours from the bones of snapper, which are salted before being added to the broth. A finishing touch of lemon zest, coriander and olive oil completes the well-balanced meal.

Credit: Adam Liaw

• serves

  2

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 sheet kombu, wiped clean with a damp cloth
• 1 whole cleaned snapper, about 1.5 kg
• sea salt flakes, to taste
• 2 sheets nori, cut into 20 pieces
• 10 g bonito flakes
• cooking sake, to taste
• small drizzle soy sauce
• pinch lemon zest
• extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• coriander sprigs, to garnish

Standing time: 2 hours

Instructions

1. Cut the kombu sheet into 15 cm squares. Place in a bowl of cold water and stand for 2 hours.
2. Meanwhile, remove the head from the snapper, then cut off the fillets and set aside. Place the head, carcass and any trimmings in a bowl and sprinkle generously with salt. Toss to coat well, then cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
3. Meanwhile, cut the fillets into 8 bite – size pieces and refrigerate. Thirty minutes before the fish bones have finished salting, season the flesh side of the fish pieces with salt.
4. Rinse the salt off the fish bones and place into a saucepan. Drain the kombu and add to the pan with enough cold water to cover the bones. Bring to the boil, add sake to taste, then remove from the heat. Add the bonito flakes and stand for 1 minute. Strain the broth into a clean pan and discard the solids.
5. Add the fish fillet and nori to the broth and place over low heat for 2 -3 minutes or until the fish is just cooked through. Add the soy sauce, then check the seasoning and adjust if necessary. Ladle the soup into bowls, drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and garnish with coriander.

 

Photography by Adam Liaw.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.