Rice Soup with Shitake and Coriander-Fish Dumplings

Over the Lenten season, I have tried to replicate the miracle of feeding the multitude with a few grams of fish and a handful of rice (in place of loaves of bread). A miracle, indeed, for a big pot of hearty chowder poured forth into eagerly waiting bowls. Anyway, aside from being unbeatably frugal, it was quite a tasty comforting dish, esp. for those of you who are experiencing cooler temperatures in the upcoming months.

A caveat: What does not necessitate expense will have to be attended to with patience. Your efforts will be well rewarded, though, considering the meager investment of resources. Roughly, here is what you need…

Rice Soup with Shitake and Coriander-Fish Dumplings

To make the Fish Dumplings, throw the following into a food processor:

300 Grams of any White Fish Fillet (skinned, de-boned, and cut up into the size of ice cubes)
1 Onion (chopped up)
1 Tablespoon of Cooking Sherry
2 Teaspoons each of Salt, White Pepper, and Baking Powder
2 Heaped Tablespoons Flour
2 Eggs
Dash of Sesame Oil

When everything's a homogeneous goo, mix in a handful of roughly chopped Coriander.

Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Using two spoons, shape the fish paste into quenelles. Drop each quenelle into the rapidly boiling pot of water. As the quenelles float up, retrieve them with a slotted spoon and set aside in a clean dish.

Cooking the Rice Soup …

Depending on how much water is left in the pot where you boiled your fish quenelles, you may top up your pot with more water until you have about 1.5 litres. Add the following aromatics:

1 Teaspoon of grated Ginger

1 Teaspoon of minced Garlic
1/2 Cup of Sliced Shitake Mushrooms (I use the sliced dehydrated kind without reconstituting them in water)
1 Cup of leftover Cooked Rice or 1/2 Cup of Raw Rice.

Bring the pot to a boil. Lower the heat, and simmer gently while stirring once in a while to make sure that the starch doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot.

After about 20 minutes, when the soup has achieved the consistency of chowder, add approximately 2 cups of water and put the fish quenelles back into the pot. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for about 10 more minutes. Season the soup with salt and white pepper to taste.

* The fish quenelles will puff up to about 3X their size at some point (they will deflate back to their original size when they're tired), so make sure you are using an adequate-sized pot.