Fish Maw Soup

I luuurve fish maw soup! I love how it's thick with collagen and the sticky feeling you get in your mouth just proves how much of it there is in the soup! For those of you who don't know, fish maw is actually the air bladder of a fish. It's considered a delicacy in chinese cooking and most often used in soups or braised.  It's really popular with the ladies because it's sooo jam packed with collagen!!

Like Wagyu, fish maw comes in many grades. I'm not sure of the exact grading system but I know that my mum uses the "B grade" fish maw which is one of the lower premium grades of fish maw you can get in Australia. I'm not sure about the actual retail price of B grade fish maw but it probably sells for somewhere in the $100s for 500g (not that we had to pay that much =P)

With the cheaper fish maws you will be able to smell and distinct a very distinctive fishy smell and this may put you off from trying it. But with this one there was no foul stinky fishy smell, there was still the smell of fish but it was more aromatic rather than stinky. 

Pic taken last night-from the top: fish maw, the white one is a form of dioscorea, then goji berries then dried longan.

There are several ways you can make maw fish soup which you can find onlline but my mum doesn't really follow recipes so you probably won't find this one online.  My mum just put in whatever was good for me (goji berries for the eyes, longan for peaceful sleep etc).

Anyway I don't really the proportions my mum put in because she doesn't measure out her stuff, just going by her experience. If you want to make fish maw soup I think it would be better if you found an actual recipe online. I'm posting this up more to introduce the yummy yummy fish maw oup rather than to give insturctions on how to make it.

Nothing beats soup made in a terracotta pot! We cut some corners and used an electric terracotta pot! LOL Don't you just LOVE technology?!?