Fish and Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

1 medium whole fish (about 600 g) such as white or black pomfret or red snapper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 ginger, sliced
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium-sized carrot, sliced
1 rib celery, diced
3 larges tomatoes, skinned and diced
600 ml water
1 tbsp chopped parsley or spring onion
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste

Method:

Clean and gut fish, and cut into 1 cm thick slices. Cut head into two halves.

To make the fish stock, heat oil and fry the ginger and fish head until half-cooked and add water. When cooked, strain to leave only the liquid for the stock.

Heat oil in a roomy pan and “sweat” onion, garlic, carrots and celery until translucent, but not browned. Add tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes before adding fish stock.

Simmer soup over low heat for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Just before serving, rub a little salt and freshly grounded pepper on fish slices and slip them into the soup. Bring to the boil and cook for 5-6 minutes.

Ladle the soup into deep soup bowls and sprinkle liberally with chopped parsley or spring onion and serve immediately.