Homemade Fish Balls 自制鱼丸

I have to learn making fish balls as they are not selling fresh fish balls in Carrefour, Geant and Megamart here. (If you happen to know any shop selling, please let me know) What we can get here is frozen fish balls. The good thing about homemade fish balls is Gabriel can eat as much as he likes because there isn't any chemical stuff in the fish balls which can trigger food allergy that cause skin rashes. I have made these fish balls a few times and he is totally alright after eating fish balls.


The Verdict: the texture of the fish balls is really good! bouncy and tender...of course it's still a distance away from the store bought fish ball texture but I'm satisfied with what we can make at home. 

Notes:
1. It is freezing cold to shape the fish balls by hand, at a point it hurts and numbs my fingers.
2. The fish meat has to be frozen form, where there is still ice in it.
3. I would encourage you to watch the hand make fish balls videos which is available on the Internet as much as you can before you try to make one, it really help. 
4. The water use to boil the fish balls MUST NOT be boiling water.

Dense and bouncy fish ball texture

Ingredients:
500g white fish fillets, frozen form
a dash of freshly ground black peppers
1/2 tsp salt
100g tapioca flour + 50ml water
1 tsp corn flour

some ice cubes

Method:

1. Cut the fish fillets into chunks, place and blend it using blender (pause function). Add tapioca water and corn flour together in a small bowl, stir well, add into the blender, add peppers and salt, blend the fish chunk into paste. The texture no need to be smooth, you can feel by hand there is ice in the fish paste.

2. Move the fish paste to KitchenAid, use the flat beater speed 1 knead the fish paste for about 5 mins then change it to speed 2 knead for another 15 mins. Use rubber spatula, scrape down the fish paste on the mixing bowl wall from time to time. When done, you can see the fish paste is very gluey, cover and store the fish paste in freezer for about 15 mins.

3. Take the fish paste out from freezer, use a rubber spatula fold the fish paste evenly with the hand motion of scoop up the fish paste and throw it back to the bowl. Repeat the action for about 5 mins. 

4. Boil a pot of hot water, when water boiling, add a bowl of cold water into the pot, lower the heat to medium. The temperature in the water should be around 80~85C. This is very important to retain the shape of the fish ball. Use the hand to grab the fish paste and squeeze it out to a ball shape as shown in photos. Use a wet spoon to scoop the fish ball up from hand and lower it to the pot. (If you intend to keep the fish balls for later use and not consume in the same day, you may cook the fish balls for 5 mins, no need to wait until it is floating, scoop the fish balls out and place it into ice water. Drain the water, keep it in a container and place into fridge.)

5. When the fish balls are floating, scoop them up and place into ice water. The fish balls is ready to consume. 

Ingredients for fish balls soup:
100g tiny dried shrimps/ shrimp skin
2 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp fish sauce
800ml fish broth (water from cooking the fish balls) 

Method:
1. Wash and drain shrimp skin. Place shrimp skin in soup pot, add fish broth boil until water boiling. Add oyster sauce and fish sauce. Simmer for another 2 mins. 

Serving:

1. Place fish balls in a serving bowl, add fish balls soup, garnish with some chopped coriander and sliced red chilli.