Possibly one of the easiest fish dishes in the world. Homemade fish balls. This is an Asian dish and when cooked right it was absolutely delicious. I will say that I am definitely not an expert in making fish ball soup, as I literally watched a guy make these in the Philippines over 5 years ago. I didn’t attempt the dish until today. I’m sure I forgot some of his steps and I don’t even know if he was a good cook. But none the less he caught a fusilier and made it into fish balls. We also aren't going any further without first acknowledging that I'm officially calling this recipe... Wet Mammal's Fishy Balls.
I’m sorry if you came here for an Authentic Asian recipe... sadly, tonight we will just be playing with Wet Mammal's Fishy Balls. But I can promise you that what I made by accident or stroke of genius tasted sensational the only thing that let me down slightly was the broth but even that was easy to fix with some additional chilli flakes and more fish sauce.
Making and Cooking Wet Mammal's Massive Fishy Balls (im such a child)
Prep Time: 40 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 50 mins
Taste 9.5/10
Wet Mammal's Massive Fishy Balls Ingredients
Southern Fusilier
Coriander
2 x Egg Whites based on the amount of meat
Fish Sauce
Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
Chilli
Bean Sprouts
500ml Chicken Broth
(Real Chicken Broth as they all claim)
Items Needed
A Hand Blender or Food Processor
A Pot
A Spoon
Kitchen Roll aka Paper Towel
A Ladle
A Bowl of Ice Water
Small Sauce Dish
Method:
My fish was frozen and then thawed.
Fillet your fish and either remove the pin bones and ribs or apply the same technique as myself. Then using a spoon scrape the meat from the skin of the fish and placed into a blending cup. Add some fine salt, I used just over a teaspoon for about 500g of fish. Then blend it until it's a paste.
Next up, I added 2 egg whites into the blending cup and blended it again. Blend intermittently to prevent the mix from heating up. I had a little taste here of the raw fish. Pretty good not too salt but quite "bouncy". Amazing that the fish texture can change like this with a small bit of salt and egg white binding it together.
Wash your hands cause it's about to get funky and messy. Set a bowl of ice-cold water to the side. I didn't have any ice cubes so stuck a yeti ice into the bowl... it worked pretty well. Using one hand squeeze the air out of the fish paste. I did this for about 5 mins but from the blending it barely had any air left. The noises are amazing. Turn the paste into small fish balls. The balls should be about bitesize. They seemed to expand slightly when I cooked so account for that. Place each ball immediately into the ice-cold water.
Once you have turned all of your fish paste into fish balls and placed them into the icy water. We are ready for a boil. Place some water, 400ml of Chicken Stock, and about a table spoon or two into a pot and put on medium/high heat. As the broth begins to simmer add your chicken balls. Cook them up they are floating and looking good.
Quickly chop up some Coriander and Chilli.
Add some Soy Sauce, a small amount Sesame Oil and Chilli into a small soy dish. This will be your dipping sauce for the fish balls.
Then add your Broth and Balls into a bowl. Add some cheeky Beansprouts then chopped Coriander and Chilli to taste.
I actually ended up adding some rice wine vinegar to my dipping sauce. This was a great addition for the fish balls and goodness.
I'm sure there will better recipes and more authentic ones out there, but honestly follow my steps and it will turn out just fine the flavour was excellent, the balls were juicy and perfectly cooked. I would probably add additional ingredients into the broth and I think using a home-made fish broth will increase the flavours beyond 10/10
If you have enjoyed this recipe, please let me know the more active engagement I get on these posts will definitely keep me encouraged to keep writing them. I'm also completely open to suggestions and tips especially with a recipe like this where I was just going from memory and i'm sure I have missed or messed up steps. But hey it was delicious and that's all that matters.
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There is a whole video on this recipe below