Soups for the season

Recipe | Grass carp and green papaya soup

Ingredients (serves 4 to 6):

1 tail-end grass carp (about 1 kg)

1 green papaya

2-3 southern honeyed dates (nan zao)

20 g sweet and bitter apricot kernels (nanbeixing)

1 small piece aged citrus peel (chen pi)

2-3 slices ginger

Method:

1. Clean the fish and dry with kitchen paper. Heat up a frying pan and add two to three slices of ginger. Add the fish and brown on both sides. Drain and place into a three-liter soup pot.

2. Peel the green papaya and cut into half. Remove the seeds. Cut into large chunks.

3. Add the green papaya into the soup pot together with the apricot kernels and honeyed dates.

4. Add enough water to cover the ingredients completely.

5. Bring to a boil and skim off any foam from the top of the soup.

6. After 10 minutes, bring the soup down to a simmer and cook for two hours, but not more.

Chef's notes:

Green papayas are available from larger markets that sell Southeast Asian ingredients. The honeyed dates are the large, candied brown dates that come from the south. The apricot kernels, known as nanbeixing, are so-called because they come from the seeds of apricots that come from the north and the south. Northern apricot kernels are smaller and bitter, the southern apricot kernels are larger, heart-shaped and sweeter. Aged citrus peel is another common ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine, and is available at most dry grocers.