An evening with a seafood soup

It was during a biological experiment (to study the cholesterol content in a shrimp) that I discovered the best-tasting seafood soup comes from boiling the shells of shrimps! What a great lab session! The bonus finding at the end of that class was that shrimp shells have very little cholesterol. So if you love seafood, don't you love knowing this? Since then, I always save the shells of seafood to make stock. Seafood stock is easier than fish or meat stock. Just boil the shells in water enough to cover them for 1 hour. Add a teaspoon of vinegar to help soften the shells while boiling. Some people like to add a clove of garlic too. Usually the shells have plenty of salt in it. So it may not be necessary to add extra salt when using seafood stock.


Recipe: Seafood noodle soup (for 2)
- 1-2 oz rice noodle
- 3 cup seafood stock
- 9 oz tofu (about 1/3 package)
- 2-4 fresh shrimps, shelled
- 2-4 oz shark (or tuna) meat, cut to 1.5" cubes
- a large sheet of dried seaweed, crumbled
- 3-4 mushrooms, sliced

- 1 leave of kappa cabbage, cut to 1" slices
- 1 stalk of green onion, chopped
- 1 thin slice of ginger
- 1 small clove garlic crushed
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil


Procedure:
Boil rice noodle, garlic and ginger in seafood stock for 2 minutes. Add kappa cabbage and mushroom to stock and let boil for 1 minute. Add shark (or tuna) meat. Let boil for 3 minutes. Add tofu and seaweed. When soup is still boiling, add fresh shrimps and let cook for 1 minute or just before it completely turns pink. Serve the noodle soup right away with sesame oil and green onions. Keep the shrimps on top while serving. The shrimps will continue to cook in the heat of the soup. 

This seafood soup goes very well with a spicy appetizer of anchovies!