Fish Maw & Pork Ball Collagen Soup
Happy Chinese New Year! 祝大家猪年快乐，万事如意。This year, I had the most relaxing Chinese New Year (CNY) ever, not needing to cook, hence skipping the mad marketing crowd. We mainly ate out or had takeaway for all our reunion meals. Since I am now well-rested, I will be making simple CNY meals from now till the last day of CNY, starting with this simple fish maw collagen soup.
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Since I am still in relax (lazy) mode, this recipe is happily made with shortcuts, mainly:
- 1 litre pure chicken collagen stock from The Soup Spoon (only sold during CNY)
- 1 packet (200g) pork balls from Don Don Donki
The rich chicken collagen soup stock is the most time-consuming ingredient if made from scratch, so I am really grateful to have a shortcut for that.
I always buy threadfin fish maw as it’s my family’s favourite & it is pillowy soft after cooking. Most importantly, this variety of fish maw cooks really fast, less than 10 minutes simmering on the stove top. The choice of fish maw is important in this recipe, because I don’t want to reduce the precious collagen soup stock much by simmering the fish maw for too long.
Fish Maw Collagen Soup Recipe
As a short-cut, I bought pure chicken collagen stock from The Soup Spoon and pork balls from Don Don Donki. You can substitute with any soup stock and meat balls. Threadfin fish maw is used as it cooks quickly, compared to other varieties of fish maw.
Ingredients:
- 50g threadfin fish maw
- 1 litre pure chicken collagen stock (or any soup stock)
- 200g pork (or chicken) balls
- 1 tbsp wolfberries soaked in water until puffy, drained
- coral lettuce leaves (生菜)
- chopped spring onions to garnish
Directions:
- Prepare fish maw. Place fish maw in a large bowl or wok. Pour boiling water over the fish maw. Soak until softened, about 20 minutes. When the fish maw is cooled, squeeze out excess water and cut to uniform, bite-sized pieces.
- Make the soup. Add chicken collagen stock to a large soup pot. Bring to a boil. Add prepared fish maw and pork balls. Cover with lid and simmer for 5 minutes or until fish maw is cooked. Turn off the stove and stir in the wolfberries immediately.
- To serve, ladle the soup to serving bowls. Garnish with lettuce leaves and spring onions.