Oriental Style Salmon Broth

Cold autumn evenings call for bowls of warm comforting  soup. Ever since enjoying an enormous steaming bowl of miso soup at Hi Sushi, I've made a number of versions of hot, spicy broths. I think they would be what Nigella Lawson refers to as Temple food.

Food that's light and healthy, that makes you feel really good after you've eaten. The kind that's great if you've been a little bit too indulgent. Or if you just fancy something very hot and tasty.

To make my Oriental Style Salmon Broth you will need:

• A small piece of ginger
• One clove of garlic
• Chilli (as much as you like depending how much heat you want)
• One spring onion
• One sustainably sourced fillet of salmon or trout.
• A few green peppercorns in brine
• One piece of lemon grass
• A few fresh shitake mushrooms
• Tamari sauce
• 300ml/half a pint of vegetable stock (you could also use chicken or fish if you prefer)
• Baby spinach leaves (or coriander or flat leaf parsley)
• 1/4 of a small bell pepper

Method:

1. Wash and prepare all the vegetables. Finely slice the chilli, lemon grass, spring onion, ginger, bell pepper, shitake mushrooms and garlic, peeling or removing any skin and seeds as necessary.
2. Place in a saucepan and cover with the warmed stock. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer.
3. Drain and crush a few green pepper corns and add to the stock along with a few dashes of Tamari sauce.
4. Meanwhile remove the skin from the salmon fillet and cut the fish into mouth sized pieces.
5. Wash the baby spinach leaves or herbs and add to the pot.
6. Once everything is heated through add the fish and cook for a further 2 or 3 minutes.

This is enough for a large hearty bowl for one or a starter for two. 

It really is fast food and very healthy. A great quick supper or lunch dish. It could be made into a much more substantial meal by adding rice or wheat noodles. It would be nice with prawns or crab meat, you could ring the changes with different herbs and even add coconut milk....but I doubt it would constitute Temple Food if you did...!

Delicious with a pot of Shensha Green or Jasmine tea...mmm...