Fish Vermicelli Soup

For yesterday's dinner, Hum Hum wanted something hot, stomach-filling but easily digestible and light... I didn?t have the courage to eat cold salads either in this cold weather, at least not yesterday....so, opted for this fish soup. Yet, I used only some of the frozen fish fillets which were left in the freezer ? I had some salmon, left by Hum Hum, when he bought it to eat the Sashimi (yeah, my son and Hum Hum love to eat Sashimi, they can finish a plate full of fresh raw fish in few minutes) and some Cod, but turned out to a perfect, simple, succulent and healthy dish.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp sesame oil
700G fish fillets (I used some salmon and cod) cut into 3 to 4 cm large pieces
1 onion chopped finely
1 leek chopped into small round pieces
4 pods garlic chopped and crushed
100g spinach leaves
1 lime leaf
2 fresh lemon grass, trimmed and smashed slightly
2 cubes chicken broth
2 fresh tomatoes (deseeded and sliced lengthwise)
5 tbsp fish sauce
4/5 shitake
1 cup button mushrooms
2 tbsp sugar
Salt
2 dry red chilies chopped into small round pieces (increase according to your taste)
100g tofu

For garnishing:
Rice Vermicelli
Mint leaves, coriander leaves
10 tbsp fried onions
2 cups Bean sprouts
Sauce Nuoc Mam
Soy sauce (add fresh red or green chilies cut into small round pieces to make it hot)

Method:

Soak the shitake in some warm water for about 10 minutes. Rinse and chop finely.

Chop the onions, leek, tomatoes and the mushrooms.

Wash the spinach. Clean the coriander/Mint leaves and chop roughly;

Cut the tofu into small cubes

Heat a wide vessel and stir fry the onions, the leek and the garlic in a tbsp sesame oil. Add the mushrooms (both), tomatoes, spinach, a little bit of salt, the dry red chilies and stir fry for some more time, add the lime leaf, the lemon grass (I don?t chop them, so that it can be easily removed afterwards) and the sugar. Stir fry and add the fish sauce, the broth cubes and then pour a liter of water and let it boil. When it boils, add the fish pieces and the tofu. Skim the foam that forms on the surface of the soup.

Simmer for about 15 minutes and keep it warm until serving.

Cook the vermicelli as per the instructions and drain.

In a bowl, put some vermicelli, pour the hot fish soup, and garnish with the bean sprouts, the fried onions and the mint/Coriander leaves.

Serve hot accompanied with a bowl of fish sauce and some soy sauce garnished with some fresh hot red chilies.