Crucian carp & daikon soup with brown rice
Pan-fried crucian carp simmered into a milky soup with sweet daikon shreds, plus a small bowl of brown rice — light, never greasy.
- 40 min
- Serves 2
- Quick soup
- Easy
Why it suits you: Phlegm-Dampness brings heaviness and phlegm, often worse after New Year feasting. Crucian carp strengthens digestion and drains damp, daikon and tangerine peel resolve phlegm and clear food stagnation, and a clear, low-fat soup with a small bowl of brown rice helps you stop at 70% full.
Method
Prep 15 min · Cook 25 min- 1Clean the fish, scrape off the black lining inside the belly and pat dry. Peel the daikon and cut into thick shreds; soak the tangerine peel and slice it thinly.
- 2Heat the oil with the ginger in a wok and fry the fish over medium heat for 3 minutes each side until golden — don't turn it too early.
- 3Pour in 1.2 litres of boiling water and boil hard for 10 minutes until the soup turns milky white.
- 4Add the daikon and tangerine peel and boil over medium heat for 10 more minutes until the daikon is soft. Salt, scatter with coriander and serve with a small bowl of brown rice.
Cautions
- Crucian carp has many fine bones — take extra care when serving children and older people.
Chef's tips
- Put the fried fish in a muslin soup bag before adding the water: no stray bones, and the soup still turns milky.
The TCM view
Crucian carp is sweet and neutral and strengthens the spleen while draining damp; daikon is pungent, sweet and cool, moving qi down, aiding digestion and resolving phlegm; tangerine peel is pungent, bitter and warm and dries damp; ginger and coriander are pungent and warm, opening the appetite in step with spring and balancing the cool daikon. Light and gentle — clears damp without draining strength.
