I love eating fish balls. They are great in soup, in noodle soup, in steamboat, deep fried, fried with vegetables, in curry noodles, in chee cheong fun and so on. However, I have stopped buying fish balls and have instead made them myself. There may be some work involved but what I get in the end are pure fish balls with little flour and no preservatives.
Ingredients for Making Fish Balls:
- 1 tenggiri (polk-dotted) fish of about 750 g
- 100 ml + 75 ml cold water
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 tsp white pepper powder
- 1 tsp corn flour
- 2 egg whites
Method for Making Fish Balls:
- 1 tenggiri fish - 750 g
- Remove the entrails.
- Remove the head.
- Remove the tail.
- Wash the fish.
- Fillet the fish i.e. slice both sides of the fish from the backbone.
- Keep the bones as they can be used to boil soup.
- Scrape the fish meat from the skin.
- From the 750 g fish, we will get about 550 g of fish meat.
- Put the fish meat into a blender.
- Pour in 100 ml of cold water.
- Blend till the fish meat becomes a paste.
- Transfer the fish paste to the mixing bowl of a stand mixer.
- Start the machine.
- Every now and then, stop the mixer and use a spatula to scrape the paste from the bottom of the machine.
- Add the first of the seasonings - 1 tsp of sugar.
- Continue to mix till the sugar is incorporated into the paste.
- Next, add 1 1/2 tsp of salt to the paste.
- Continue to mix so that the salt is incorporated into the paste.
- Next, add 1 tsp of white pepper powder to the paste.
- Add 1 tsp of corn flour.
- Next, add in 2 egg whites, a little at a time.
- Continue to mix till all the seasonings, corn flour and egg whites are well incorporated.
- Slowly add in 75 ml of cold water.
- Let the mixer run for another 10-15 minutes.
- Note: For a "bouncy" fish ball, take the paste and hit it again the bowl for as many times as possible.
- Test to see whether the fish paste is ready for use - the floating test.
- Take a glass of water.
- Scoop a ball of fish paste and make into a ball.
- Drop the ball into the glass of water.
- If the ball floats, it means that the paste is ready.
- If the ball sinks, start the machine and let it mix for another 10 minutes and then carry out the test again.
- Repeat this until the ball floats to the top of the glass.
- This step is carried out if you do not wish to use the fish ball yet.
- Fill a pot of water.
- Put it over low heat. [Do not let the water boil but just simmer. (Bubbles around the pot.) Note: If you let the water boil, then the sweetness of the fish ball will escape to the water. The fish ball will cook with slow simmering.]
- Scoop the fish paste and use 2 spoons to make it into a ball and drop it into the water. Repeat this until the paste is used up. However, you may use your palm and closed fingers to squeeze out the paste into a ball.
- Once the balls float to the the top of the water, they are cooked and can be removed from the water.
Method for Making Fish Ball Noodle Soup:
- Put a pot onto the stove and turn on the fire.
- Put some oil into the pot.
- Add some minced garlic into the oil and let it saute till fragrant.
- Once it is fragrant, add water, the amount depends on the number of bowls of noodle you are making.
- Once the water boils, add in raw fish balls, fish meat, prawns, squids or whatever ingredients you like.
- Add the seasonings according to taste - salt, light soy sauce and pepper.
- Add whatever vegetable you like - cai xin, napa cabbage, lettuce, etc.
- Drop some beaten eggs into the soup if you like.
- Add the noodles - kueh teow, yellow noodle, bean noodle, bihun, etc.
- Scoop out and serve when the noodle is cooked.
