Thai Fish Dumpling Soup

Thai Fish Dumpling Soup

I get asked quite often, “How can you afford to eat healthy, fresh food with three growing boys?” The implication is that it’s too expensive. Just like you, I’m on a budget when it comes to food. I also look at food as medicine. With my son Matthew being a diabetic, his medical bills are astronomical. Keeping him, Jon, James and me healthy is paramount to keeping my healthcare payments to a minimum. So I buy in-season produce, when it is at its lowest price and highest in nutritional value. I try to buy local, which helps the community and, hopefully, my pocket. To really keep costs down, I cook most nights at home. Cooking at home and cooking healthy with the best one-ingredient produce I can find at a reasonable price is, I believe, cheaper than being on medication.

I try to keep away from processed foods as much as possible. Anything that has unpronounceable words doesn’t get a place in my home. We don’t eat a great deal of red meat. Our proteins tend to be free-range chicken or fish or shellfish. Eighty percent of what we do eat is plant based, such as fresh fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and a variety of whole grains. Dairy is consumed sparingly as well.

This soup is a great example of how you can blend healthy, one-ingredient foods and turn them into something that’s easy to make, delicious, and won’t break the food budget. Enjoy!

Thai Fish Dumpling Soup

Serves 2

Ingredients:

For the fish dumplings:

6oz cod fillet, skinless, pat dry making sure you remove any excess water

2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1 lime, zest of (keep juice for broth)

1 Thai red chili, minced

1 inch of ginger, peeled and grated

1 tablespoon sesame oil

For the broth

32oz low sodium fish or vegetable stock

2 tablespoon fish sauces

1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce

1 lime, juice of

4 kaffir lime leaves

1 ½ cups zucchini spaghetti

1 ½ cups sweet potato spaghetti

½ cup English peas

To serve:

1 Thai red chili or 1 jalapeno, sliced

1 lime cut into wedges

Handful of fresh cilantro leaves

How to make:

For the fish dumplings: Place the fish into a food processor and quickly break down into a rough paste, remove from the food processor and tip into a bowl, add the minced garlic, lime zest, minced red chili and grated ginger, combine well. Cover with plastic and leave in the fridge overnight for the flavors to infuse.

Remove from the fridge the next day, discard the plastic and mold into even size dumplings, approx. 8 medium size or 12 small dumplings. (You might have to dip your fingers into cold water to shape the dumplings).

Pour the oil into a frying pan or wok and place over a medium to high heat, add the dumplings and cook for 2 minutes on each side or until sealed and golden brown in color. Remove from the pan and place on dish paper to absorb the fat.

For the broth: Place the stock, fish sauce, lime juice and kaffir leaves in a saucepan, and bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and allow to gently cook for 10 minutes, remove from the heat and allow the flavors to infuse for 10 minutes. Strain the stock, discard the leaves, pour the stock back into the pan and bring to the boil.

Reduce the stock to a simmer and add the fish dumplings, gently cook the dumplings for 3 to 4 minutes, then add the spiralized zucchini, sweet potato and peas, cook for 2 minutes. Using a ladle transfer the broth to warm soup bowls, scatter over the sliced chili, fresh cilantro leaves and a good squeeze of lime juice, and serve.