Fish-Vegetable Noodle Soup

Rice and noodles are signatures of the Vietnamese cuisine. Most tourists agree that soup is the Asian meal. Vietnamese people can enjoy a bowl of soup any time of the day, and, as a matter of fact, each of the cities along the coastline of Vietnam has its own name for the soup served. I posted some recipes about this kind of soup before, but today I am introducing another way to create a fantastic fish noodle soup with vegetables. This recipe has combined two healthy food choices, which are seafood and vegetable/fruit in the same dish. I use the simple chicken broth or seaweed broth that I always do when making soup throughout my blog with easy instructions to follow. Sharing a new recipe with people is my goal, and I hope this is another outstanding meal, and it is pretty neat.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. fish paste homemade or store-bought
One 8 oz. tuna fillet, cut into chunks
8 cups chicken broth
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 green onion, chopped

Vegetables/fruit:
1 cup chopped white onions
1 cup fresh pineapple, cut into chunks
1 large tomato, cut into wedges
White cabbage, cut into bite size pieces, about 1 cup
1 chayote (Mexican squash), cut into big chunks
5 asparagus, cut into 2 inches lengths
1 carrot, sliced
Garnish with chopped green onions, cilantro, mints and basils
Cooked rice noodles

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, combine the fish paste with shallot, garlic, and green onion. Season with 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp fish sauce, and black pepper. Mix well. Let marinate for 1 hour.

In a sauté pan, add 2 tbs of peanut oil. Heat oil and press the fish paste into the pan like a pancake.

Fry fish paste until golden brown on both sides. Remove from the pan. Let it cool and then slice.
Sprinkle tuna fillet with 1 tbs cornstarch.

In the same pan, add 1 tbs oil. Add tuna chunks and pan-fry them on both sides until just opaque. Remove.

In the same pan, add 1 tsp oil. Add onions and cook for 2 minutes. Add tomato wedges and cook until tomato is soft but still holds its shape.

 

 

In a medium pot, add chicken broth and all the vegetables/fruit ingredients and bring to boil.

 Simmer the vegetables/fruit for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked. Add the tomato-onions, the fish paste slices, and the tuna to the broth.

Bring back to the boil. Now the soup is ready to serve.

Presentation:
Place cooked noodles on the bottom of a serving bowl. Place the tuna, fish paste slices, and vegetables on top of the noodles and pour the broth over them. Sprinkle with the green onions and herbs.