Szegedi halászlé (fish soup from szeged)

by Ed Halmagyi

Ingredients

  • 4 plate-sized fish (freshwater fish are best)*
  • 1 Tbsp fine salt
  • 1½ Tbsp paprika
  • 2 brown onions, chopped
  • 1 stick celery, chopped
  • 2 fresh bay leaves
  • 4L water
  • 4 Hungarian peppers
  • 2 tomatoes, blanched, skinned and diced
  • 1 green capsicum, finely sliced

Instructions

1 Fillet and skin the fish, reserving all trimmings. Sprinkle the fillets with fine salt and refrigerate until needed.
2 Combine the fish trimmings, paprika, onions, celery, bay leaves and water in a large saucepan. Bring to a simmer, then cook for 1 hour, until aromatic and reduced to 3L. Press through a fine sieve into a second saucepan.
3 Finely slice 3 Hungarian peppers and place in the soup with the tomatoes and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the fish and cook gently for 5 minutes, until the fish is just firm. Finely slice the remaining Hungarian pepper. Serve the soup with sliced pepper and capsicums.