Hot and Sour Soup with Sea Bass by Uyen Luu

Servings: 2
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Ready In: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1 quart water
1 cup steamed rice
3 whole tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tin of pineapples, roughly chopped
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 whole sea bass
2 tsp sugar
2 whole bird's eye chilies
¼ cup premium fish sauce
1 taro stem (elephant ear), pealed and chopped
2 scallions (spring onions), chopped
3 tbsp culantro (sawtooth herb), chopped, can be substituted with cilantro
3 tbsp mint, chopped
½ lime, juiced
½ cup bean sprouts

Directions:
1. Bring 1 quart of water to the boil in a large pan. To the boiling water add the tomatoes, the pineapples and the juice from the pineapple tin, and bring to back up to the boil whilst preparing the other ingredients.

2. In a frying pan over a medium high heat, add the vegetable oil and brown the shallot. Once browned, add the cloves of garlic and soften, and then remove from the heat.

3. Once the soup comes back to the boil add the sea bass, 4 tbsp of fish sauce, and the sugar, and allow the broth to simmer for 10 minutes to poach the fish.

4. On a serving dish, shred the chilies with the back of a spoon, and add 4 tbsp of fish sauce. Once the fish is cooked, remove it from the soup and place it onto this dish to serve.

5. To the soup, add the taro stem, the spring onions, the culantro, the mint, the fried shallot and garlic, the juice of the lime, and the bean sprouts, and allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes.

6. Place the fish and the soup in the middle of the table for sharing, with a bowl of rice for each of the guests, and enjoy!