MY HEALTHY HOMEMADE FISHBALL

Fish balls! Fishballs! as manong calls out selling, one of Philippines' popular street food. Dipping it with sweet and spicy sauce, who couldn't resist that ^.^

Today, I'm sharing how I made my Healthy version of "Fishball". That's the main difference of home cooked food/meal, it's always the healthier version ^.^

Staying quite sometime here in Malaysia, we get to miss Filipino dishes and snacks, a lot!! And the only way to satisfy such cravings is to cook them myself. Being said that, let's begin cooking Fishballs!

I used Asian Sea Bass for this dish,locally called as Siakap, but I guess you can use any fish that you like, just be sure it's fresh. 

The main reason I choose Siakap is because of it's size which makes it easier to scrape the fish meat off. Just one Big Siakap can make a lot of fish balls. 

Luckily, the guy in the market cleaned the fish without me asking. So, I scrapped the fish meat off and debone as well. I don't have a food processor at home, so I just chopped the meat manually ^.^ using the back of the knife. Then transferred it in a big glass bowl, continued pressing the meat using a spoon, making sure the meat is free from any bones and well grounded.

Doing this process will make the fish sticky and smooth until close to a paste texture. Be prepared!! making this dish requires a lot of manual labor which will make you exhausted, but at the end all your hard work will pay off! Continue this process until the mixture is smooth and sticky. 

In a separate bowl, whisk 2 medium eggs, then add salt and pepper.

      

I mentioned healthy fish balls, right? I decided to add some vegetables, diced carrots and potato, one each. Then mixed with the egg batter.

Adding cornstarch and all purpose flour. Another step where you need constant stirring to make sure all ingredients are well amalgamated. Add water according to the batter consistency, not too moist and not too dry. 

This is my first time making a fish ball, so I just used my cooking instincts ^.^.
And finally, combine the fish meat and batter together. Use those muscles ^.^ mixing all the ingredients together. I occasionally switched hands when mixing the batter, it's a tiring process. But I'm up for the challenge!

This is how it looks like after mixing all the ingredients. You see the final batter, like I've mentioned earlier, it should be not too moist nor too dry. And lastly, before shaping it into small balls, I did the taste test first ^.^ I fried half spoon, enough to check its taste. 

Here are the ingredients that was used:

     Siakap

     1  cup Flour

     1/2 cup Cornstarch

     2 Medium Size Eggs

     Salt and Pepper

     1 Carrot

     1 Potato

Using a spoon and my clean hands, I wet my palm first with a little cooking oil, this is to avoid the batter from sticking into my palm, shaped it into flat balls, I just like it that way ^.^. 

Frying the fish balls:

     1. In a deep medium pot, heat cooking oil. 

     2. One by one add fish balls and stir it occasionally, to avoid them from sticking to each other. 

     3. Remove fish balls when golden brown and puffed.

     4. Place cooked fishballs in a bowl covered with paper towel.

I know what you're thinking ^.^ nde sya kamukha ng fishball na bini-benta ni Manong hehehe..

Making Sweet and Spicy Sauce:

     1. In a pan, combine water with soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, flour, little cornstarch, minced garlic, salt and pepper. Stir well and add chili as per your liking. Adjust ingredients according to your taste preferences.

     2. Bring to a boil under low heat. Stir occasionally until sauce thickened.

     3. Once your desired taste is met and sauce thickness, remove pan from the fire.

Commending my husband for helping me on this part, I just add all the sauce ingredients but he's the one who made the sauce taste great. The first sauce I cooked was a bit bland. He repaired the sauce and turned it into that familiar taste that we crave for ^.^ Lucky me.

At this point, all my hard work finally paid off. 

Seating side by side, hubby and I, enjoyed our first fish balls, dipping in a sweet and spicy sauce. Bringing a slice of home in a simple dish on our table. Sharing laughters with our fishball stories ^.^.

See you on our next post!

Renelah