Fish Ball and Fish Cake

Mackerel makes great fish ball as well as fish cake.  We need to pick the fish with flat and spotted body  so as to produce good texture fish ball or fish cake, or in simple term the fish ball will be springy and bouncy!

Home made fish ball and fish cake are 100% pure as compared to those commercially produced ones which adds lots of MSG, flour and other seasonings. Thus, I will normally make my own if I intend to cook any dish which requires fish ball, rather than buying the ready made ones from the wet market.

How to go about?

1. Buy one whole mackerel with the tips as mentioned above.  I will ask the seller to slaughter for me and discard the head if I intend to make it on the day itself, or otherwise I will do it myself.
2. Use a sharp knife slice the flesh on one side, starting from the tail through the middle bones until the other end, then turn over and slice the other side.
3. Use a tablespoon to scrap the fish meat, always starts from the tail and moving towards the other end.  There are also some meat attaching to the middle bones, so scrap that as well.  Put all the meat into a large bowl.
4. When all is done, sprinkle about 1 tsp of salt onto the meat, use our hand to mix them well.
5. Add one egg white, give it a quick mix and let it sit in the fridge for about an hour.
6. To make a springy and bouncy fish ball or fish cake, the fish meat have to be pounded and for some so called 'old-fashioned' home-cooked they will slam the meat onto the side of the bowl till it gets to that texture.  It is indeed tedious work!  For me, I am using my mum-in-law's method which is much simpler, putting the fish meat into a clean plastic bag, then using my right hand to hold the opening tightly and at the same time using my palms to push the plastic bag with fish meat inside onto a flat surface, repeating till I obtain the correct texture.  Then I'll scoop out the fish paste into a bowl and it is ready for use.

To make fish cake:

1. Using wet hands, take a portion of the fish paste and mold the fish paste into round shape with the thickness of your preference, but it should not be too thick.
2. Medium fried the fish cake in a deep wok using medium heat, turning over at least once till lightly brown and cooked.
3. Lift out and put on kitchen paper to get rid of excess oil and it's ready for use or can be eaten as it is.
4. To keep, put in freezer and taken out to de-froze before using.

To make fish balls:

1. Using wet hands, put a portion of the fish paste on our left palm, squeeze and let the paste comes out from between our thumb and second finger, and use a spoon with our right hand to scoop our the fish ball and put it in a bowl with some water to prevent it from sticking to each other. Repeat till done.

2. The fish ball can be directly use for cooking soup or if you intend to make more and keep for later use, then boil the fish ball in boiling water till it floats, lift it out, drain, cool and keep in air tight container in freezer.  

Note:  Though making fish ball and fish cake is a tedious task, but it's worth the effort. Watching my family munching happily these delicious and healthy fish balls or fish cake brings me the real feeling of self-satisfaction!