Name: Hee Pio (Soup with Fishballs, Meatballs, Fish Maw and Cabbage)
Yield: Makes 8 to 12 Servings
Ingredients: 350 g or ¾ pound minced prawns (shrimps); ½ a chicken, chopped into serving pieces; 600 g or 1¼ pounds minced pork; 1 packet fresh white fishballs; 1 head large cabbage, stem discarded, leaves cut into 5 cm or 2 inch squares; 4 eggs; 1 teaspoon white pepper; 1 large packet dried fish maw (hee pio), soaked in cold water until soft; 450 g or 1 pound pork rib bones; 450 g or 1 pound fish paste; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 tablespoon oil; 15 g or ½ ounce cloud ear fungus, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes, then chopped (optional); 2 teaspoons salt

Preparation info

Makes
8 to 12
Servings

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Growing Up In A Nonya Kitchen

By Sharon Wee

Published 2012

About

To serve this soup authentically, you will need some intricate fish paste rolled in egg omelette. I have included the preparation technique for them. However, you could also simplify the soup, but the absence of the cut-up fish paste omelette roll would be well noted in a fastidious and traditional Baba family.

Hee pio soup derives its name from the dried fish maw in it. Apparently, the best ones are large and straight, not too curled up. When I inspected the ingredients list on a p