Papaya and fish soup (木瓜魚湯)
A milky-white soup of pan-fried fish and ripe papaya — traditionally made for breastfeeding mothers, and easy to make with fish from a Chinese supermarket.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 15 min
- Serves
- 4
Method
- 1
Prepare. Peel the papaya, scoop out the seeds and cut it into large chunks. Rinse the fish and pat it very dry with kitchen paper, so it doesn't spit in the pan.
- 2
Fry the fish. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the ginger, then fry the fish over a medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until golden. Frying the fish and then boiling it hard is what turns the soup milky.
- 3
Boil hard. Bring the water to the boil in a large pot. Put the fish in a muslin soup bag, add it with the ginger, and boil hard with the lid off for 10 minutes, until the soup turns white.
- 4
Simmer. Add the papaya and red dates, turn the heat down, cover and simmer for 1 hour.
- 5
Season and serve. Lift out the fish, add salt to taste and serve the soup with the papaya.
About this dish
Fish soup with papaya is one of the soups a 陪月 makes most often, traditionally to help with breast milk. It's light and gently sweet, and a good way to get plenty of fluids — which matters when you're breastfeeding.
Tips
- Mind the bones. Grass carp has lots of fine bones. A muslin soup bag (煲湯袋) keeps them out of the soup; otherwise, strain the soup through a fine sieve.
- No grass carp? Frozen grass carp tail is sold in most UK Chinese supermarkets. Sea bream or sea bass heads and frames from a fishmonger also make a clean-tasting soup.
- Choose a papaya that's just ripe — yellow-orange skin that gives slightly when pressed. Very ripe papaya falls apart in the pot.
- Leftovers: divide into smaller containers so they cool quickly, get them into the fridge within 1 to 2 hours, eat within 48 hours, and reheat once, until steaming hot.
Sources
About these recipes
- These are traditional home recipes, shared for cultural interest. They are not medical or nutritional advice, and we don’t claim any dish treats, prevents or cures anything.
- If you have allergies, gestational diabetes or a special diet, or take any medicines or herbal remedies, check with your midwife, health visitor, GP or pharmacist before changing what you eat.
- Follow UK food-safety advice: cook meat, fish and eggs thoroughly; cool leftovers and get them into the fridge within 1 to 2 hours; eat them within 2 days; and reheat only once, until steaming hot.
- Some recipes contain alcohol, and cooking doesn’t remove all of it. If you’re breastfeeding, read our guide to ginger vinegar and chicken in rice wine first.
Experienced carers cook dishes like these every day of the confinement month, and adjust them to how you’re feeling.
Find a carer →More recipes
Black bean and silkie chicken soup (黑豆烏雞湯)
A dark, gently sweet soup of black-skinned silkie chicken, toasted black beans and red dates — a traditional favourite for new mothers.
Double-boiled chicken soup with fish maw (花膠燉雞湯)
A treasured confinement soup: fish maw and chicken double-boiled for hours in a sealed pot, giving a clear, rich and silky broth.
Lotus root and pork rib soup (蓮藕豬骨湯)
A classic Cantonese slow-boiled soup: lotus root simmered with pork ribs, red dates and dried tangerine peel until soft, starchy and faintly pink.