Tilapia Soup with Sharen

Purpose:

To expel wet, enhance appetite and stop vomiting.  

Material:

Tilapia （鲫鱼）                                      500 g

Sharen （砂仁）                                      8 g

Fresh ginger （姜）                                 20 g
Cooking oil                                           1.5 tbs     

Green onion （葱）                                 some
Salt                                                       some

Note:

Use whole tilapia - better freshly killed and cleaned; cut into three segments: head, tail, and center.  Fresh tilapia can be purchased from Chinese grocery stores.  If you do not have access to one, you might want to find substitutes.  Some supermarkets do supply daily fresh tilapia filets.  Whole dried sharen fruits (not powder) can be obtained from Chinese herb shops.  Sharen are aromatic fruits produced in Guangdong and Hainan of China, as well as in countries of south east Asia.  The fruits from Guangdong have better medicinal effects.

Procedure:

a.     Rinse clean ginger and sharen.  Skin ginger and cut to slices.  Clean green onion and cut to small pieces.

b.     Add cooking oil to a pot, and slightly fry each side of the tilapia segments.  (You can use less oil or skip frying altogether if you need to watch out for oil intake.)  Insert sharen fruits into the abdominal cavity of the fish.  Add ginger to the pot.

c.     Add about 6 cups of water to the pot.  Bring to boil with high heat.  Reduce to low heat and cook for another 15 minutes.  Flip the fish segments once or twice during cooking.

d.     Sprinkle green onion into the soup.  Boil for 1 min.  Add salt to flavor.  Ready to serve.

        

Comment:

This is delicious soup that is simple and quick to prepare.  After cooking, the soup has a slightly milky color and the tilapia has a delicate texture and flavor.  A fish soup always tastes better when it is hot. 

Sharen （砂仁）

Tilapia (鲫鱼)