Fried Fish Balls Soup with Pineapple and Tomatoes

The weather is getting colder everyday now. It time for me to clean up my herb-vegetable garden to see what I can use for my kitchen. The pumpkins and kohlrabi are enough to make a good vegetable stock for fish balls soup that I about to prepare, and the chives are still good for the garnish. At the end of the season, most vegetables are tough to eat but good for making stock. I always want to cook in a fun and creative way and use whatever ingredients that are available to me; therefore, this soup is perfect at this time of year.

Ingredients:
Vegetable stock:
1 small pumpkin (any type available)
2 kohlrabis
1 apple
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
1 onion
A few cabbage leaves
1 piece of kelp about 4 inches in length
6 quarts of water
Fish balls:
250 gr fish paste ( homemade or store bought)
3 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 green onions, chopped
2 tsp annatto seed oil (for color)
Juice of 2 lemons
Salt, pepper to taste
1 tsp fish sauce
2 cup pineapple, cut into bite-size pieces
2 large tomatoes, cut into wedges
1  white onions, cut into wedges

5 cups chicken broth
5 cups vegetable broth
Garnish:
Chives, cut into 3 inches
Cooked rice noodles and dia rau song (Vietnamese salad plate)

Directions:

Place all the vegetable stock ingredients in a stock pot. Add water and cook for 1 hour. Drain and use stock for the fish ball soup.

Mix the fish paste with chopped shallots, garlic, and green onions. Season with salt, black pepper and fish sauce. Add annatto seed oil to the mixture.

Moisten hands with water and coat fingers and palms with some oil. Roll the fish balls into a ball the size of a golf ball.
Add about 1 cup of oil in a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Fry the fish balls.

 Rotate the fish balls until each side becomes golden brown. Set aside

In a 6 quart pan, add chicken broth and vegetable broth. Bring broth to boil. Add pineapple, onions, tomatoes and the fried-fish balls. Bring back to boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with fish sauce.

Place the cooked noodles in the bottom of a serving bowl. Arrange a few pineapple pieces, tomato wedges, and fish balls on top of the noodles. Ladle the broth on top and sprinkle with chives and green onions.