Sunday, February 15, 2009
Making fishballs
Learning a new trick
Fishballs sold at supermarkets and wet markets are becoming very unhealthy,
so I decided to make them myself.
My recipe came from the WWW and I condense it as follows:
Obtain a slab of about 300 grams of very fresh tenggiri or batang fish, or dorab or parang.
Using a spoon, scrap off the flesh, just the flesh.
Make a little bowl of water,
about four tablespoons will do for 300 grams of fish,
flavoured with half a teaspoon of salt and pepper.
Add two tablespoons of cornflour and that bowl of water and mince the lot in a food processor.
If you do not have a food processor, just chop them with your cleaver and then add the flour and water.
To make fish balls springy and full of doink doink, put the blob of minced fish into a large bowl.
Get another bowl of water for wetting the hands.
When our palms are wet, the fish flesh will not stick to our palms, making it easier to handle.
Take that blob of mushy stuff and throw it against the side of the bowl.
Keep wetting your palms if you have to.
Keep doing it, slapping and hitting the blob until it is shiny and firm.
And that will be the fishball mass.
When you have this fishball mass ……
You can squeeze it into marble size balls and drop them into your cooking soup.
You can spread it on soyabean skin and deep fry them.
You can stuff it into vegetables like okra, bitter gourd and taupok to make yong tau foo.
The possibilities are endless …
This recipe is easy to follow, and my first attempt was passable but not as I had expected.
The fishballs were too dense and hard, very doink doink, in fact too good as some would say.
I wanted them to be less dense and soft.
I suspect that this is related to the proportion of flour and water.
This experience has taught me a few things which will make my work faster and better the next time.
Also the next time I will use a whole parang fish, about one kilogram in weight.
The parang is the ideal fish for fishballs although a bit difficult because of the numerous bones.
But never say die, man.
Ron
Fishballs sold at supermarkets and wet markets are becoming very unhealthy,
so I decided to make them myself.
My recipe came from the WWW and I condense it as follows:
Obtain a slab of about 300 grams of very fresh tenggiri or batang fish, or dorab or parang.
Using a spoon, scrap off the flesh, just the flesh.
Make a little bowl of water,
about four tablespoons will do for 300 grams of fish,
flavoured with half a teaspoon of salt and pepper.
Add two tablespoons of cornflour and that bowl of water and mince the lot in a food processor.
If you do not have a food processor, just chop them with your cleaver and then add the flour and water.
To make fish balls springy and full of doink doink, put the blob of minced fish into a large bowl.
Get another bowl of water for wetting the hands.
When our palms are wet, the fish flesh will not stick to our palms, making it easier to handle.
Take that blob of mushy stuff and throw it against the side of the bowl.
Keep wetting your palms if you have to.
Keep doing it, slapping and hitting the blob until it is shiny and firm.
And that will be the fishball mass.
When you have this fishball mass ……
You can squeeze it into marble size balls and drop them into your cooking soup.
You can spread it on soyabean skin and deep fry them.
You can stuff it into vegetables like okra, bitter gourd and taupok to make yong tau foo.
The possibilities are endless …
This recipe is easy to follow, and my first attempt was passable but not as I had expected.
The fishballs were too dense and hard, very doink doink, in fact too good as some would say.
I wanted them to be less dense and soft.
I suspect that this is related to the proportion of flour and water.
This experience has taught me a few things which will make my work faster and better the next time.
Also the next time I will use a whole parang fish, about one kilogram in weight.
The parang is the ideal fish for fishballs although a bit difficult because of the numerous bones.
But never say die, man.
Ron
Friday, February 06, 2009
Hong GilDong
A popular story of an oft-repeated kind.
In the Joseon era in Korea, GilDong was the son of the noble family of Hong, a powerful minister. He was a bastard because his mother was a maid who was beaten to death on the order of the legitimate wife. Disallowed to study or learn military skills because of his status he was also abandoned by the father and ridiculed by the stepmother.
Thus GilDong grew up in the street. Although he was treated as a bastard his lineage gave him power to do what pleased him. The people loathed him, yet they dared not offend him for whatever he freely took from them. Growing up in such an environment he became streetwise and acquired martial arts. Unable to regain his father's acceptance and despised generally, GilDong drifted aimlessly.
Like all other nations with caste systems where the nobility rule under a king above the civilians over the peasants, the ministers enriched themselves through the power and connections they possessed. As the powerful nobles grew richer the peasants became poorer and they found themselves surviving under great difficulties and their lives very miserable.
Thieves banded and a political organisation developed clandestinely. By chance GilDong saved a band of thieves from being ambushed and annihilated by the Noh organisation. The thieves were appreciative of his heroism, but he rejected to be made their chief.
As events unfolded, GilDong was blamed for a political crime and hunted by the authorities. Abandoned by his father and despised by the community and hunted by the authorities for a crime he did not commit gave him a direction.
GilDong enlisted the band of thieves. They posted notices everywhere declaring that the most corrupt minister would be robbed on a certain night. The various ministers were frantic since the one robbed would be thus exposed to the king and his peers and the populace. The community itself was cheered that finally something had come ahead. When the king learned about it he laughed and awaited the outcome.
On that night, the various ministers were unable to sleep although they had their premises heavily guarded. However when morning arrived each one was greatly relieved as nothing had happened. Each smiled on meeting another, and finally they all laughed the event off on discovering that none was robbed.
But on the night after, the thieves came to every minister's house and did their work easily. Each minister was advised not to retaliate as that would create a great commotion which would let it known that he was the most corrupt minister. The fear of exposure was greater than the loss of wealth that each minister even told the thieves to do their work quietly and quickly. And each minister then pretended that all was well.
The thieves never had such great spoils. They wanted GilDong to have the biggest share, but he declined and left after telling them to do with them as they wished. The populace was disappointed that the intended robbery had not happened, but the miserable ones discovered beyond their happiness the bag of sustenance at their front door the next morning.
As it went, GilDong naturally developed into a champion of the community he was a part of, stealing from those who overburdened others to return the spoils to the
dispossessed.
Hope you enjoy this story.
Ron
In the Joseon era in Korea, GilDong was the son of the noble family of Hong, a powerful minister. He was a bastard because his mother was a maid who was beaten to death on the order of the legitimate wife. Disallowed to study or learn military skills because of his status he was also abandoned by the father and ridiculed by the stepmother.
Thus GilDong grew up in the street. Although he was treated as a bastard his lineage gave him power to do what pleased him. The people loathed him, yet they dared not offend him for whatever he freely took from them. Growing up in such an environment he became streetwise and acquired martial arts. Unable to regain his father's acceptance and despised generally, GilDong drifted aimlessly.
Like all other nations with caste systems where the nobility rule under a king above the civilians over the peasants, the ministers enriched themselves through the power and connections they possessed. As the powerful nobles grew richer the peasants became poorer and they found themselves surviving under great difficulties and their lives very miserable.
Thieves banded and a political organisation developed clandestinely. By chance GilDong saved a band of thieves from being ambushed and annihilated by the Noh organisation. The thieves were appreciative of his heroism, but he rejected to be made their chief.
As events unfolded, GilDong was blamed for a political crime and hunted by the authorities. Abandoned by his father and despised by the community and hunted by the authorities for a crime he did not commit gave him a direction.
GilDong enlisted the band of thieves. They posted notices everywhere declaring that the most corrupt minister would be robbed on a certain night. The various ministers were frantic since the one robbed would be thus exposed to the king and his peers and the populace. The community itself was cheered that finally something had come ahead. When the king learned about it he laughed and awaited the outcome.
On that night, the various ministers were unable to sleep although they had their premises heavily guarded. However when morning arrived each one was greatly relieved as nothing had happened. Each smiled on meeting another, and finally they all laughed the event off on discovering that none was robbed.
But on the night after, the thieves came to every minister's house and did their work easily. Each minister was advised not to retaliate as that would create a great commotion which would let it known that he was the most corrupt minister. The fear of exposure was greater than the loss of wealth that each minister even told the thieves to do their work quietly and quickly. And each minister then pretended that all was well.
The thieves never had such great spoils. They wanted GilDong to have the biggest share, but he declined and left after telling them to do with them as they wished. The populace was disappointed that the intended robbery had not happened, but the miserable ones discovered beyond their happiness the bag of sustenance at their front door the next morning.
As it went, GilDong naturally developed into a champion of the community he was a part of, stealing from those who overburdened others to return the spoils to the
dispossessed.
Hope you enjoy this story.
Ron
