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Golden Pumpkin Soup with Fish Maw
Superior stock and fish maw turn a simple pumpkin soup into a classy affair
Jonathan Ng
December 31, 2024
Pumpkin soup you’ll want to drink out of the pot
My pottery teacher recently gifted me a whole pumpkin from his garden, freshly cut from the vine. It’s not everyday you get to cook with fresh, home-grown produce, and I wanted to make a dish where pumpkin was the star ingredient. I eventually decided on soup, because:
I could use the entire pumpkin to make a large batch that I could share with my teacher and others.
I had a lot of rich food during the festive period and was craving something simpler and comforting.
Chinese New Year is around the corner and I wanted to share a recipe that you might want to add to your New Year menu.
The result is an elevated riff on a classic pumpkin soup that wouldn’t feel out of a place in a restaurant.
We start by making a superior stock with pork bones, a whole chicken, and chicken feet. The bones and feet in particular are good sources of collagen, which give the soup its body and a lovely mouthfeel. The bones and meat are simmered for a full 5 hours to extract all the flavor, with the aromatics—ginger, garlic and spring onion—added towards the end. You can make this vegan by using/making a vegetable stock; just note that it won’t have the same viscosity and will result in a more watery soup.
The stock is then divided into two portions. One portion is used to simmer the cut pumpkin until soft. This is then blended until it’s completely smooth. The pumpkin adds creaminess, sweetness, and lends the soup its appealing golden-orange hue. While the pumpkin soup is cooking, we add seasoning ingredients to the other portion of stock. Here, we’re using dried scallops (omit if vegan) and dried mushrooms, which add a ton of umami, and red dates, which contribute sweetness. The usual suspects of salt, pepper, soy sauce and Chinese cooking wine round off the seasoning.
Once both soup bases are ready, combine them together in a single pot. At this point, you can cool it down quickly, store this in the fridge for up to two days, and reheat on the stove if you are making this ahead. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and add the prepared fish maw and prawns. Cook the seafood for a few minutes, then immediately serve the soup hot.
That’s it for this week. From all of us at Nommune, we wish you a Happy New Year and hope that 2025 will be a year of memorable meals! We have exciting things planned that we can’t wait to share, so stay tuned!
The Recipe
Golden Pumpkin Soup with Fish Maw
Intermediate · Active 1 hour · Total 7 hours · Makes 4
My pottery teacher gifted me a whole pumpkin from his garden, freshly cut from the vine, and I knew I had to make the pumpkin the star ingredient. This soup is made with a superior stock from pork bones and chicken feet, which gives the soup a lot of body. The use of dried scallops and mushrooms contribute umami, which makes the soup intensely savory. The pumpkin adds creaminess, sweetness, and gives the soup its lovely golden hue. Finally, fish maw and prawns give the soup a touch of elegance, resulting in a dish that is easy to make at home, but wouldn't feel out of place in a restaurant.
Prepared Fish Maw
100 g fish maw
10 g ginger
2 stalks spring onion
1. Add dried fish maw to a large bowl and cover with cold water. Soak fish maw for 6 hours, changing the water every 2 hours.
2. Add the soaked fish maw, ginger and spring onion to a pot and cover with a fresh batch of water. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes, then drain and discard the ginger.
3. Slice the fish maw into finger-width pieces and reserve for later.
Superior Stock
1 kg pork bones
1 kg whole chicken
1 kg chicken feet
3 litres water
50 grams ginger
4 spring onions
4 cloves garlic
1. Wash pork bones well. Add pork bones to a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes, then discard the water and wash the blanched pork bones and pot. This will reduce the impurities and help keep the stock clear.
2. Into the cleaned pot, add the blanched pork bones, whole chicken and chicken feet. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 4 hours, skimming any scum that rises occasionally. Top up water if the level drops too low. You're aiming to finish with 2 litres of stock.
3. After 4 hours, add ginger, spring onion, and garlic and simmer for 1 final hour.
4. Strain the stock into another pot and discard the solids.
Pumpkin Soup Base
1 kg pumpkin
Superior Stock
1. Peel and chop pumpkin into chunks.
2. Add the pumpkin to a pot and add enough Superior Stock to cover. Bring to a boil, then simmer until tender, about 30 minutes.
3. Blend until smooth, then pass through a sieve for a silky texture.
Seasoned Soup Base
Superior Stock
20 grams dried scallops
20 grams dried mushrooms
4 red dates
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 tbs salt
50 ml Shaoxing wine
50 ml soy sauce
1. Soak dried scallops and dried mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes. Remove the rehydrated mushrooms and slice thinly, then return to the soaking liquid.
2. Into the pot with the Superior Stock, add the rehydrated scallops, mushrooms and the soaking liquid, red dates, white pepper, salt, Shaoxing wine, and soy sauce.
3. Bring the pot to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
Marinated Prawns
200 grams prawns, peeled
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
1. In a bowl, marinate prawns with salt, sugar, and soy sauce.
To Finish
Prepared Fish Maw
Marinated Prawns
1. Add the Pumpkin Soup Base to the pot with the Seasoned Soup Base and mix well. Bring the pot to a simmer over medium heat.
2. Add the Prepared Fish Maw and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add the Marinated Prawns and poach until they turn pink and are cooked through, about 3 minutes. Serve immediately.
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Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, please share it with someone else who also loves to cook. I’ll see you all next week.
Jonathan
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