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Fish Balls
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Easy Way To Make Fish Balls And Two Ways To Eat Them

Fish balls are eaten in a variety of ways, including deep-fried, in soup or with a dipping sauce.
Course Snack
Cuisine Chinese
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 2

Ingredients

  • 1 fresh Bighead carp
  • 1 egg
  • Half a lemon
  • 20 grams starch
  • Ketchup to taste
  • Rice sauce to taste (You can use light soy sauce instead.)
  • 1 ½ teaspoon cooking wine
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • oil: enough to deep fry the fish balls

Instructions

  • Wash the fish, cut off the head and tail, and split it into two pieces from the middle. (It is recommended that you use Snakehead Fish to make fish balls. When cutting, you can put a piece of wet cloth under the chopping board to prevent it from slipping.)
  • Remove the fish bones and spine from the middle of the fish. Then remove the skin.
  • Cut the fish obliquely into fillets. (A fish weighing 2 kilograms, which will be about 450 grams of fish fillets, can make about 30 fish balls.)
  • Mash up the fish into a fish paste. (Key point: the fish must be fine; smash up the small bones in the fish, or you can use a food processor, to make it easier.
  • Place the fish puree in a bowl, add the salt, and cooking wine, and squeeze in the juice of half a lemon.
  • Add the egg whites and stir in one direction with your hand. (Be sure to follow one direction when stirring, and stir vigorously, so that the fish balls will be more elastic. Keep stirring for about 10-15 minutes, without stopping.
  • Add a little water (about 5ml) while stirring. (The fish will be a little dry, and this helps to make the fish more tender and smooth. After adding water, you must continue to stir constantly, otherwise the fish balls will fall apart.)
  • Add the cornstarch and continue to mix well in the same direction.
  • Fill your pot half way with boiling water. Take the right amount of fish mixture with one hand, squeeze mixture out from your fist and shape it into a ball using a spoon, as shown in the picture below. Place the fish ball on a spoon and put it into the pot of water.
  • Continue to cook fish balls until they float to the surface, and when the foam from the water starts to overflow, remove them and put them in cool water to cool them. (The cold water can be changed once during the cooling period to ensure that the water temperature is always cold. The cold water helps to make the fish balls more firm.)
  • Pour a little cooking oil into the pan. When the pan is hot, add the tomato sauce and then pour in the right amount of water, and mix well.
  • Drain the fish balls and stir fry evenly. Cook for about 2 minutes on low heat and until the liquid thickens. Slide the fish balls onto a skewer or toothpick and serve on their own with a dipping sauce, or use them in another dish or soup as I show you next.