Fish Cake and Fish Balls
Fish paste is shaped into fish cakes, cut into pieces, and served with fried fish balls, stir-fried tripe, and kidney slices. The dish is steamed and finished with a poured sauce.
Ingredients
Yellowcheek (scale and gills removed, split to debone and skin, white flesh minced into paste)
to taste
Pork fat cubes (cut into cubes)
to taste
Wet starch (for coating fat cubes)
50 g
Minced ginger
25 g
Fine salt (for coating fat cubes)
15 g
MSG (for coating fat cubes)
2.5 g
Egg whites
3
Water (for fish paste)
1000 g
Wet starch (for fish paste)
150 g
Egg whites (for fish paste)
7
Fine salt (for fish paste)
100 g
Egg yolks (beaten for brushing)
2
Red fish paste
to taste
Lean pork paste
to taste
Water (for fish-pork paste)
1250 g
Wet starch (for fish-pork paste)
50 g
Egg yolks (for fish-pork paste)
8
Minced ginger (for fish-pork paste)
50 g
MSG (for fish-pork paste)
1 g
Fine salt (for fish-pork paste)
25 g
Sesame oil (for frying)
to taste
Pork tripe slices (boiled and sliced)
to taste
Pork kidneys (sinew removed, scored in wheat-ear pattern)
to taste
Magnolia lotus slices (cut thin)
to taste
Cooking wine
to taste
Pork rib soup
to taste
Soy sauce
to taste
Scallion segments
to taste
Wood ear mushrooms
to taste
Daylily buds
to taste
Vinegar
to taste
Sugar
to taste
Rendered pork fat (for drizzling)
25 g
Instructions
1
Ingredient preparation
Boil the pork tripe slices in a wok over high heat until cooked through, and slice obliquely into pieces 3.3 cm long and 1.6 cm wide. Open the pork kidneys, remove the sinew, and score them into wheat-ear patterns with a knife. Crack the eggs and place the yolks and whites into two separate bowls. Cut the magnolia lotus slices thin and set aside.
2
Making the fish cake
Place the pork fat cubes in a bowl, add 50 g wet starch, 25 g minced ginger, 15 g fine salt, 2.5 g MSG, and 3 egg whites, and mix well to make coated fat cubes. Pour the fish paste into a basin, add 1000 g water, 150 g wet starch, 7 egg whites, and 25 g minced ginger, and stir evenly; then add 100 g fine salt and 2.5 g MSG and continue stirring for 5 minutes until elastic. Pour the fat cubes into the fish batter and stir together to make a fish-flesh batter. Line a steamer with wet cheesecloth, pour in the fish batter, smooth it flat (4 cm thick), cover, and steam over rapidly boiling water on high heat for 30 minutes. Lift the lid, blot the condensation off the surface of the cake with clean cheesecloth, beat 2 egg yolks evenly, and brush them over the top of the cake. Cover and steam for another 5 minutes, then remove. Once cooled, invert onto a cutting board and cut into fish-cake blocks 6.6 cm long and 1 cm thick (240 blocks).
3
Making the fish-pork balls
Place the red fish paste and lean pork paste into a bowl, add 1250 g water, 50 g wet starch, 8 egg yolks, 50 g minced ginger, 1 g MSG, and 25 g fine salt, and stir evenly into a fish-pork paste. Set a wok over high heat, pour in sesame oil and heat to 60% hot. Squeeze the fish-pork paste by hand into small balls and drop them into the oil to fry until golden-brown; remove and divide into 10 bowls.
4
Assembly and sauce
Arrange the fish cakes into 10 bowls (24 blocks per bowl) and steam over high heat for 15 minutes, then remove. Set a wok over high heat, add 100 g sesame oil and heat through; stir-fry the pork tripe slices and scored pork kidneys for 1 minute, then add the cooking wine, magnolia lotus slices, pork rib soup, MSG, soy sauce, fine salt, scallion segments, wood ear mushrooms, daylily buds, vinegar, and sugar. Once boiling, thicken with wet starch, drizzle in 25 g rendered pork fat, remove from the heat, and pour over the 10 bowls of fish cakes and balls. Serve immediately.
