Subscribe to FeedThis is probably the easiest soup recipe I have on this blog. This is a quick and simply flavoured soup of fish balls, preserved vegetables or otherwise known as 'dong choy' or 冬菜 and glass noodles. To make this easy soup more wholesome, I used fish balls without preservatives but if that is not readily available where you are, go ahead and use regular ones. The preparation and cooking of this dish requires less than 30 minutes and you can make it a complete meal by adding pre-soaked glass noodles at the table. I added glass noodles only at the last minute to avoid the texture of the noodles becoming overly soft.
If you are using store-bought fish balls, it is quite important to get good quality ones as the ingredients are so simple. I did not need to add salt to the soup as the preserved vegetables are already (obviously) preserved in salt so much of the savoury flavours come from the vegetables. These vegetables are usually sold in clay jars at most Asian grocery stores and somehow go very well with fish balls. I like to keep the clean flavours of this dish hence I did not add any lard but it is quite common to see lard being added for added fragrance especially if you order a bowl of fish ball soup noodles in Malaysia.
Ingredients:
Adjust quantity depending on how many you are serving, this serves 4.
2 dozen (24) fishballs
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
8 cups water
2 packets glass noodles (optional)
3 tbsps 'dong choy' or Chinese preserved vegetables, rinsed and squeeze water out with hands
Splash of light soy sauce
Fresh cilantro or green onions, for garnish (optional)
Method:
Firstly, saute the garlic and the preserved vegetables in a large deep pan or wok with about 1 tbsp of cooking oil. Add a tiny splash of light soy sauce.
Once aromatic, add the water. Then cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the fish balls into the soup. Cover and bring to a boil again.
Remove cover and check to see that the fish balls are cooked. Do a taste test and add more soy sauce if needed.
Serve hot. Add pre-soaked glass noodles right before eating if using.
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22 comments:
Nice to have simple dishes on quiet days :)
Very Nice! Reminds me of my childhood.
http://home-cook-dishes-for-family.blogspot.com/
This reminds me the yummy Chiuchow or Teochew style fish ball noodles.
I love the simplicity of this soup and it is so tasty...hope you are having a great week :-)
OK,at last I remember one vegetable I don't like - 冬菜 !
Love a good springy fish ball anytime!
thanks Juliana! You too!
I also make sotong ball soup wt napa yesterday but without tong choy..Yes it's simple and fast to cook,right? I used tong choy with minced pork and eggs for steaming..
yes it is quite similar :)
thanks! glad it brings back good memories
yes totally! love the ease of this quick soup :D
OK,at last I remember one vegetable I don't like - 冬菜 !
Love a good springy fish ball anytime!
I'm not always in the mood for fishballs but when I am I find them satisfying and comforting. Your soup looks delicious.
Xiaolu, thank you!
OMG! this is the teochew style clear soup fishball kway tiow mee! I grew up with this but had not taste this for many years as I am away from home for a long time. I really miss this dish. My favorite stalls are at Redhill hawker centre (ABC market) and Margaret (Da Zhong or Dai Jiong). The other one is at Chinatown hawker centre (2nd floor). It's nice to see this recipe.
Singaporeans might not understand this as they can have this anywhere and anytime in SG. I stay in Thailand (outside Bangkok) for many years, and I really appreciate the good old Singapore food.
I can get most ingredients here but the fishball here is not so bouncy. I will be trying out your recipe soon.
Thanks for sharing! This style of fish ball noodles are very popular in Malaysia as well (I'm Malaysian just for the record :D)...I know! While living at home, we tend to take the local food for granted but once we're thrown overseas, almost the first thing we miss (apart from family and friends of course) is the FOOD, trust me, I've been through it, I can still remember how crazily ecstatic I was when I found curry leaves in the US to make my Malaysian Butter Prawns haha...I do hope you like this recipe and would love your feedback..thanks for sharing about those hawker centers as well, I will ask my SG friends to take me there the next time I visit :)
Hi Jen,
An update on Kway Tiow Soup. I actually cheated a little by adding a little Ve-Tsin - 味精 (Hong Kong brand MSG - Those in Blue/Gold metal container). The initial taste of soup was a little plain, so I added a teaspoonful of Ve-Tsin, :-pFinally, I boiled and drained my yellow noodle and kway tiow with bean sprout (dou ya) seperately. Pour the soup onto the noodle, add Dong Cai and Yuan Sui Cong.I was initially tempted to added some ikan bilis to add favor to the soup. I heard some hawkers did that but could not confirm.
My own verdict: Took me less than 5 minutes to do it. A nice clear soup. The simplicity of this recipe itself is the selling point.
Next: probably try glass noodle (Dong Fen) or even Mee Tai Mak (Lo shu fen) and adding Ikan Bilis for the soup.
SG/MY Food Lover.
HI again! My favourite version is actually with glass noodles :D Yeah, I know that living overseas, you may not be able to get the freshly made fish balls, hence that might be why the soup is a little plain tasting - if you get the 'right' fish balls, the soup is so naturally sweet hehe....I'm pretty sure hawkers add MSG to their soup hah! Adding ikan bilis is fine although I find that it detracts a little from the 'clearness' of the soup but hey, it's always fun to experiment right?
Looks good but do you have to thaw the fish balls first? If not roughly how long do they take to cook?
If you are using frozen fish balls yes, please thaw until completely defrosted then cook according to my recipe, hope that helps!
Excellent receipt, thanks! Do you have recommendations on brands, or where to try to find MSG fish balls? thanks!
^ hi there, you can find these at most Asian grocery stores in the frozen foods aisle..I used to go to Ranch 99 most of the time since I lived in California...not quite sure where you are but in my experience, these can be found in most Asian grocery stores. Hope that helps! For my dish, I used freshly made fishballs without MSG but these are quite hard to find outside of Asia.
i've used this as a guide. thank you
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