This Japanese dish is a real delight, a light, sophisticated, multi-layered soup plate full of loveliness; the sweet/sour flavour of miso, the sweet/salt taste of the prawns and the hake, and the clean, wholesome crunch and taste of the vegetables all work very well together. We've also done it with red snapper, it sometimes comes in big tranches which are perfect for this dish, as is monkfish (as in the photo above). The gyoza wrappers are like filo pastry discs 8cm in diameter, except they are a lot more forgiving to work with. You can get them fresh or frozen - we buy our from the Wing Yip, but they are also available online

The hake:-

2 x 100g pieces hake, skin off. If you buy a 200g hake steak, skin and split it, removing the bone, it will be the perfect shape and size

The marinade:-

1 tbsp sweet white miso paste

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp sake

1 tbsp mirin

The prawn dumplings:-

4 king prawns, heads and shells removed, de-veined and quite finely chopped

1 tsp light soy sauce

1 tsp mirin

¼ tsp fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 tsp finely chopped spring onion

6 gyoza or wonton wrappers

1 egg, beaten with 1 tbsp water

The shiso broth:-

300mls Vegetable Nage

300mls chicken stock (you can replace this with another 300mls of nage if you don’t use meat products)

1 tbsp sake

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp fresh ginger, finely chopped

6 shitttake mushrooms, stems removed, sliced

4cm piece leek white, very finely shredded

4 heads baby pak choi

Marinating the fish:-

• Mix all the marinade ingredients well in a large glass bowl. Add the hake pieces, making sure they’re well doused in marinade, cover with cling film and put in the fridge for no more than 5 hours

Preparing the dumplings:-

• With about half an hour to go before you want to serve, blend the prawns, soy, mirin, spring onions and ginger in a bowl. Place 6 gyoza/wonton wrappers on your worktop. Spoon a teaspoonful of the prawn mix into the centre of each one. Brush the edges of the wrappers with a little of the egg mixture, fold over, and press firmly to seal. Then fold each wrapper in half and seal again with a little of the egg mixture. Place them on a plate, and put in the fridge for 20 minutes

Making the broth:-

• With about 20 minutes to go, put all the broth ingredients except the vegetables in a saucepan, bring to a gentle boil and simmer for 5 minutes, then turn off

Bringing it all together:-

• With about 10 minutes to go, take the hake out of the fridge, lift it out of the marinade, shaking off any excess marinade, and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Take one tablespoon of the marinade out of the bowl and stir into the broth. Turn on your grill to 200C, then when it’s up to heat, put the fish in. At the same time, add the mushrooms, the leeks, the pak choi and the wontons to the broth, and bring it back to a medium simmer. Bubble the broth for 3 minutes, then add the pak choi and bubble for another minute, then put three wontons and half the veggies into each of two soup plates, arranging the veggies in the middle and the wontons to the side. Carefully ladle half the broth into each plate. Turn the fish over, and grill for 3 minutes more, then lift out and place carefully on the heap of veggies, and serve immediately