My great-grandmother and great-grandfather were betrothed at the age of four and had an arranged marriage ten years later. Great grandmother was dressed in red – for luck and good fortune – before being taken to the groom’s home for the ceremony. She never went back – from that day on she belonged to the Leung family by both civil and religious law. Great grandmother’s duty was to obey and serve her mother-in-law and the adjustment was stark and solemn. A poem of Wang Jian (王建) implied that the new bride had to appease and gain her acceptance into the new family and one of the tests was to make soup for her new family. The fish soup was the typical soup and was supposed to show skill. The translucent opaque colour would show flair for cooking and drawing out the goodness of the fish into the liquid. The Chinese believed it was unhealthy to drink cold drinks with a meal and the soup would form an important part of the meal, lining the stomach and warming the body. Great grandmother swore by this soup. She believed the smooth velvety-ness calmed her mother-in-law’s temper which was incredibly short and extinguished the fire in her eyes.
You can use any white fish for this soup and one of my favourite fishes is sea bream – perfect for a healthy fish soup full of nutrients, creamy in texture and opaque white in colour.
Serves 2
Prep time 15 minutes
Cook time 50 minutes
1 whole sea bream (or any white fish of your choice), weighing approx. 330g
1 teaspoon salt
200g spinach, washed and preferably stalks removed2 carrots, diced into thick rounds1.5 litres water
Clean the bream thoroughly and the salt on its body and cavity.
Put the whole fish and carrots into a saucepan, fill with water and bring to the boil. Hard boil for 5 minutes.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Then add the washed spinach which will cook down in minutes.
Simmer for a further 15 minutes. At this stage the flesh of the fish will be cooked, falling off the bone and the soup an opaque white in colour.
Serve. If you are worried about the bones, sieve the soup into a bowl, then serve. Apportion the fish, spinach and carrots into each bowl of soup.
To book a table at Sweet Mandarin email sweetmandarintables@gmail.com . Our opening times are Tuesday – Sunday 5-10pm.
Sweet Mandarin is a Chinese Restaurant in Manchester which serves delicious Chinese cuisine and exotic cocktails. We make our own sweet chilli sauce, bbq sauce, sweet & sour sauce which you can buy from Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Ocado, Booths, Wing Yip and Chi Yip. Sweet Mandarin Chinese Restaurant and Cookery Schoolcan cater for the gluten free, dairy free diners. We are a short 15 minute walk from the Manchester Arena. We are not based in Chinatown, but based in the trendy Northern Quarter near the Arndale Centre, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Debenhams and Primark. The nearest hotels to us are the Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn Express, Premier Apartments, Blue Rainbow Aparthotels, Light Hotel and Hatters Hostel.
