Wolf Herring Steak / 西刀鱼段 / Ikan Parang

Wolf Herring is the most popular type of fish to be made into Fish Balls. It gives the FishBall a fairly “bouncy” texture, handmade or machine-made.

How to Fish Ball

Method
1. Fillet the fish first. Using a ceramic spoon (metal will be too harsh), scrape the flesh off the fish, going with the grain/ in the direction of the fish bones. Carefully feel for any bones and remove any, you don’t want to get sued.
2. Mince the fish very finely with the back of a chopper, adding the water salt and pepper at the same time. Or if you’re not anal about tradition like my mum is, put into a blender with the water. Add slowly so if you find the paste becoming too wet, stop earlier.
3. Now for some anger therapy action. Gather the mixture with wet hands, bring it up towards you and slap it back down, repeatedly, 60-70 times, or until it comes together and firms up. Too little slapping gives you mushy balls; too much slapping gives you toothy balls. It should wobble a bit when poked.
4. Shape into balls by squeezing the paste in between the crook of your thumb and index finger, and using a spoon to scoop the balls into a basin of cold water, while you finish the rest.
5. When ready to cook, drop into boiling water, or for a simple fishball soup, drop into stock made from the fish bones and heads from earlier (don’t waste anything). The fishballs are cooked when they float to the top.

These fishballs, or fish blobs, may not look as perfectly smooth and round and white as their commercial counterparts, but I like them like that. I look at them and feel an immense urge to squish them like I do babies’ cheeks. I hold them in between my chopsticks and feel an irresistible urge to bite into them (fishballs only, not babies), and when I do, they burst with the natural sweetness of the sea. My hands smell of fish and my biceps are aching, but hurrah, I’ve made bouncy 100%-fishballs.

Credit : Shu Han