Recipe: Javanese Sweet and Sour Fish and Tomato Soup

Ingredients

• 4 skinned and boneless cod fillets
• 100g of fresh prawns
• 3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 5 Asian Shallots, sliced
• 5 spring onions, finely sliced
• 1 tsp. of white pepper
• 2 tsp. dried shrimp 
• 1 lemongrass, slice the soft white part and tie the leaves together in a knot
• 3 cm ginger, finely chopped
• 5 birds’ eye chillies sliced
• 5-7 speciality tomatoes, chopped into wedges (the green ones are much better for this dish) (Westlands UK)
• 2 tsp. tamarind paste
• 5 fresh kaffir lime leaves (daun Jeruk Purut) (Westlands UK)
• Small bunch of samphire marsh (Westlands UK)
• Small bunch of sea aster (Westlands UK)
• Small bunch of coriander leaves, roughly chopped (Westlands UK)
• A bunch of mixed shoots (Westlands UK)
• Micro herbs coriander leaves (Westlands UK)
• 2 tbs. of caster sugar
• 2 tsp. of salt
• 1.5 litres of hot water
• 2 tbs. sunflower oil or groundnut oil
• Salt and paper to taste
• Juice from 1 lime

Javanese Sweet and Sour Fish and Tomato Soup Recipe

1. In a medium pan, over medium heat, fry the shallots, garlic, and spring onion until fragrant, add lemongrass, chillies and dried shrimp.
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2. Slightly reduce the heat, add the cod, prawns, tamarind paste, kaffir lime leaves and pour over half the amount of water, and half the amount of chopped tomatoes. Cook for 7-8 minutes.
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3. Add the samphire marsh, sea aster and the other half of the chopped tomatoes and water, sugar, salt, white pepper and lime juice. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.
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4. Add salt and pepper to taste
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5. Note: if birds eye chillies are too hot, replace with red chillies (deseeded)
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6. Serve with Steamed jasmine rice or fresh rice noodles with micro herbs to garnish

Recipe by Bobby Ananta (@bobbyananta on Instagram)