Mustard Greens, Clams and Fish Head Soup 芥菜大蜆魚頭湯

Mustard Greens, Clams and Fish Head Soup 芥菜大蜆魚頭湯 (Cantonese: gai choy dai heen yu tau tong) is a dish from Chaozhou, a city in Guangdong province.  They are well known for their culinary contributions to Cantonese cuisine.  Some of their contributions include clay pot congee, cold crab, fish balls, soy marinated goose and oyster pancake. 

Chaozhou chefs are masters when it comes to seafood.  Some of the most elegant seafood dishes come from Chaozhou.  They are famous for their over-the-top banquet seafood dishes like abalone, sea cucumber and shark’s fin which showcase their intricate carvings and knife skills.  There’s a common saying in Chinese, 無雞不成宴 (wú jī bū chéng yàn) which means it’s not a banquet unless there’s chicken.  But in Chaozhou, they say, 無海鮮不成宴 (wú hǎi xiān bū chéng yàn) which means it’s not a banquet unless there’s seafood.  So, they’re pretty serious about their seafood.  Even though Mustard Greens, Clams and Fish Head Soup 芥菜大蜆魚頭湯 is a simple comfort food, the combination is a well thought out medley of ingredients.

Mustard Greens, Clams and Fish Head Soup 芥菜大蜆魚頭湯 is a light and nutritious soup.  In Chinese herbology, fish heads are high in protein, essential fatty acids and calcium. Clams are for strengthening the kidneys. Mustard greens can help with digestion, detoxification, water retention, mineral absorption and reduction of phlegm and inflammation.  Lastly, the salted eggs rounds out the bitterness of the mustard greens and ties all the flavours together.

I used grass carp 鯇魚/草魚 head for this recipe since it is a common fish to use in Chaozhou recipes.  The scales on the grass carp are quite big and easy to remove.  The bones are few and big which makes it a good fish choice for fillets.  Use the bones and head for soup so that nothing goes to waste.

In my recipe, I’ll show you how to purge live clams to spit out sand.  I’ll also show you how to make a white, milky soup without adding any milk.  And it's easy to make!

Looking for more delicious soup recipes? Check out my soup section! One of my absolute favorites is Hong Kong Style Borscht with Oxtail 牛尾羅宋湯!

Mustard Greens, Clams and Fish Head Soup 芥菜大蜆魚頭湯

Fish head can be substituted with fish bones.

If using a large fish head, have your fish monger chop the fish head into smaller pieces, approx. 6cm for easier frying.

Besides clams, you can use razor clams or mussels.

Add mung bean vermicelli or rice vermicelli to make it a meal. But be sure to put the fish head or fish bone in a fish bag to prevent bones from getting mixed with the vermicelli.

It’s also common to add tofu, fish balls and preserved vegetables to this soup.

Approximate cost (CAD) $15

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Wait Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 2 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course Dinner, Lunch, Soup

Cuisine Cantonese, Chinese

Servings 4 Servings

Calories 212 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ½ Grass carp fish head (approx. 1 lb)
• 15 Live clams (optional)
• 250 g Mustard greens (aka gai choy)
• 1 bunch Mung bean vermicelli (optional)
• 2 Salted eggs (chicken or duck)
• ½ tsp White pepper powder
• 1 tbsp Fish sauce
• 4 slices Ginger
• 2 stalks Green onions , cut into large segments
• 2 tbsp Oil
• 1.5 L Water

Instructions

 

• Make saltwater by adding 2 ½ tbsp (approx. 35g) of sea salt to 1 L water
• Purge clams by soaking ½ to ¾ of the shell in saltwater. Soak for 45-60 min I find that this is more effective than submersing the whole clam in salt water to get it to spit out sand. It’s preferable if you use a sieve/grid to elevate the clams. This way the sand sinks to the bottom without getting reabsorbed by the clam. The video shows one of the clams spitting out water. At one point, quite a few of them were spitting together but I was too late to capture it on video
• Soak mung bean vermicelli in water to soften
• Heat wok or pan to medium-high heat. Add 2 tbsp oil. Add ginger and garlic. Fry until aromatic
• Pat dry the fish head with paper towels. Sprinkle with approx. ½ tsp white pepper powder and rub evenly
• Place the pieces of fish head into the wok/pan. Fry on both sides until lightly golden A couple pieces of my fish head were too big and so I wasn’t able to brown it properly. The bones of the grass carp are very hard and I couldn’t chop it smaller myself. However, it still turned out fine because the fish was very fresh and didn’t have much of a fishy odour to begin with
  
• Place the fish head and ginger into a pot with 1.5 L of water. Discard green onions You may want to place the fish head into a fish bag if you do not intend to eat the meat or if you add the vermicelli. I didn’t put it into a fish bag so that I could better show the fish head in the pictures
  
• Bring to a boil and turn heat down to medium-low heat. Water should be at a simmering boil. Cook for 45 minutes
  
• Clean and cut the mustard greens to your desired size
  
• Prepare salted eggs. Cut the yolks into quarters and set aside. You may discard the egg white but I chose to add it into my soup to give it more flavour. If you choose to discard, you may need to add more fish sauce or salt to flavour
• Use scissors to cut the vermicelli into shorter lengths
• When 45 minutes is up, remove any impurities from the soup and turn heat up to high
  
• Give the clams a rinse with running water and add to the pot along with mustard greens, mung bean vermicelli and salted eggs
• Cover with lid for 10 minutes or until clams open up. Discard the ones that do not open
  
• Taste test and add approx. 1 tbsp fish sauce to season
• Serve

Nutrition

Calories: 212kcalCarbohydrates: 19gProtein: 8gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 312mgSodium: 1066mgPotassium: 360mgFiber: 3gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 1974IUVitamin C: 45mgCalcium: 93mgIron: 1mg

Keyword Clams, Fish, Mustard Greens, Salted Eggs, Soup, Vermicelli

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