There are few things that stick out when I think of my childhood in Hong Kong. 1) That one time I was wandering around while my mom was watching my sister's ballet recital. I was outside by myself and suddenly this old man took my hand and said "oh your mom is this way." He was totally pointing at a different direction. THANKFULLY I was able to pull away and ran back to my mom. 2) My teacher yelled at me because I had told her I needed to go to the restroom and after I was done, I bumped into my aunt. She asked me to go look for my cousin...or something and so I did. Then moments later my teacher found me and started yelling at me for wandering off. And before I could explain I was already crying. 3) My elementary school in Hong Kong sold fried fish balls in the cafe and everyday I wanted it soooo bad. But my dad wouldn't let me buy any. He would tell that the fish balls were dirty, the cooks would accidentally drop them on the ground and would step of them and then would pick them up and put it back into the pot..etc....etc.....etc. I THINK I only ate it once, ever, in Hong Kong. It wasn't until I had moved to NYC, like 18 years later, that I finally bought fried fish balls from a street cart. 18 years! There are no Chinese food carts in LA so yeah not until moving to NYC. I felt like a rebel, buying that skewer of fish balls.
So this recipe you can definitely use other balls. Beef, squid, cuttlefish, shrimp, pork filled. I was going to using the plain old pre-fried fish balls but these fish shaped fish cakes caught my eyes. And the addition of rice noodles (tube shaped) is a classic breakfast.
1 package of fish balls 1 package of rice noodles 2 tablespoon curry paste 2 cloves of garlic, minced 1 tablespoon grated ginger Couple scallions, sliced or diced Chicken stock 1 tablespoon flour Oil Salt + pepper Soy sauce Sesame oil
Add oil into a pot, over medium flames. When the oil is hot, add the grated ginger and minced garlic. Saute for 45secs or until fragrant.
Add curry paste. Stir it, incorporate into the oil, cook for a minute.
Toss in the balls (or fish shaped fish cakes). Mix a bit. Add in the chicken stock. You want the liquid to barely cover all of the fish balls. If it's not enough, add water. Bring it to a boil, lower the flames, and let simmer for 10mins. If you are using frozen balls, simmer the fish balls till they are warm inside.
In a separate bowl, combine couple tablespoons of curry sauce from the pot with a tablespoon of flour. Mix until no more lumps of flour. Add mixture to pot of fish balls. Stir and let simmer for another minute or so. Add a tablespoon of soy sauce and a dash sesame oil.
Taste the sauce and season to taste.
Add rice noodles. Add as much as you like. My pot was only big enough for half the package of rice noodles. Give everything a quick mix. The rice noodles cook quick, so keep your eye on them. I used a fork to poke at them to see if the center has softened. You don't want to over cook the noodles or they will absorb too much liquid and become way too soft.
Finish with scallions