Many inspirations, one delicious bowl—Asian Fish Soup

A mix of Asian cuisines and ingredients creates a flavorful, spicy, satisfying soup. Recipe below.

OUR RECENT WISCONSIN ROAD TRIP ended with a quick swing through Madison, where Laurel and Raffy took us to the amazing, delightful Ahan for lunch. Our takeaway? WOW!

Ahan is the Lao word for food. The restaurant is the creation of chefs Jamie and Chuckie Brown-Soukaseume, whose use of local ingredients and Asian traditions and flavors is just dazzling. in 2023, Jamie was nominated for a James Beard Award in the Emerging Chef category.

To sum up, is Ahan worth a trip to Madison? Yes, it is. Will it inspire you? I know it inspired us.

A couple of days after we came back, we were poking around in Trader Joe’s and came home with some nice filets of cod. As soon as I saw them, I thought of our fantastic lunch at Ahan, and decided to try some experimenting myself.

This dish takes inspiration from several traditional Asian soups—especially Thai hot and sour fish soup and Chinese fish tofu soup. It’s easy and fast—one of those dishes that take longer to prep than to cook. If you cannot find nice fresh cod, you can use haddock or hake or any mild white-fleshed fish and yes, you can use thawed frozen filets if that is what you have. It’s light and healthy and zingy and we love it. This is wonderful with buttered hunks of baguette, or just on its own. And to our delight, it’s also still tasty, and just a tad hotter, the next day.

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Asian Fish Soup

A mix of Asian cuisines and ingredients creates a flavorful, spicy, satisfying soup.

Course Soup

Cuisine Asian-inspired

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon white wine or dry sherry or gin or Shaoxing rice wine wine
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• a fresh grinding of pepper
• 1 pound cod, haddock, hake filet, cut into large chunks
• 1/2 cup clam juice (optional—substitute chicken stock if not using)
• 1-1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken stock (use 2 cups if not using clam juice)
• 5 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemongrass, minced—use the soft central part and discard any dry outer leaves
• 1 knob onion or 2 scallions, cut into thin slices crosswise—reserve the white and green parts separately
• 3 or 4 medium tomatoes, such as Campari, chopped coarsely
• 6 or 8 fresh mushrooms, sliced—can be white mushrooms, shiitake, whatever you prefer
• 1 small Thai chili pepper or jalapeño, minced fine—discard seeds if you want to moderate the heat
• 4 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 4 to 6 ounces firm tofu, cut into small cubes

Instructions

• Make a marinade for the fish. Mix the cornstarch, sesame oil, white wine, soy sauce and black pepper in a small bowl. Cut the fish into chunks, then add in the fish and gently stir it all together with your hands. Set aside.
• Prepare the stock. Mix together the chicken stock, clam juice (if using) and fish sauce in a saucepan and heat gently. Let it simmer for a minute or two, then turn off the heat and set aside.
• Prep everything else. Don’t start cooking until everything is ready!
• Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy-bottom skillet with deep sides, or a medium-sized saucepan, to medium hot. Add in the garlic and ginger, and stir-fry for 45 seconds, then add in the lemongrass and the white part of the knob onion (or scallion) and stir fry for another 30 seconds. Then add in the tomatoes and mushrooms and stir fry for another two minutes.
• Next, add the Thai chili, the ketchup and the tomato paste—stir fry for another minute, then pour in the stock. Stir everything together. Add the tofu, bring the pot to a simmer, reduce heat to low, put on the lid and gently cook for 10 minutes.
• After the ten minutes, remove the lid and raise the heat to medium. Slide in the fish chunks—make sure they are nicely separated in the stock and not stuck together a big ol’ glob to ensure they cook evenly.
• After 90 seconds, the fish should be done. Serve the soup immediately in shallow bowls, sprinkling the reserved onion or scallion greens over each bowl. This is wonderful with buttered hunks of baguette, or just on its own. And to our delight, it’s also still delicious, and just a tad hotter, the next day.