Monday Dinner: Asian fish ball (or meat ball) soup

I went to my local farmers' market yesterday and got some fresh sardines. So I made fish balls in soup on Sunday night, and all I had to do tonight was add some ingredients in the soup and make rice.




Fish balls
Sardines (10) - You could try any other already cut fish if you like
Dashi no moto - This is the Japanese version of bouillon. It comes in seaweed flavor, fish flavor, or a combination of both and is powder. You can get it at any Japanese or general Asian store - Make sure it doesn't contain MSG...(it usually doesn't though)
Miso (1Tbs) - secret ingredient..
Leek (2 inches of white part) - Could substitute it with green onions
Ginger (small piece)
Cooking wine - This is sake for cooking (much cheaper than regular sake for drinking). You can get it at any Asian store.
Soy sauce (1Tbs)
Egg yolk (1)
Potato starch or corn starch (1Tbsp) - This holds the mixture together.

1. Clean the fish and take the bone out. Meat is tender, so you should be able to pull the bone out. Then peel the skin - if the fish is fresh, it should come right off. If you don't like to do this, just get fish meat without bone, but without any seasoning on it.
2. Chop up leek and grind ginger.
3. Combine everything except for dashi no moto in a food processor until the mixture is kind of sticky.
4. Boil 4 cups of water and sprinkle in some dashi no moto. Adjust the amount of water according to how much soup you want to make.
5. Take two spoons. When the soup boils, scoop some of the mixture onto one spoon and use it other spoon to drop the mixture off into the pot (soup). Keep going until all the mixture is gone. When the balls float, they are cooked.

This is a recipe for fish balls. If you are not a big fan of fish, just try ground chicken, turkey, or pork, then you have Asian meat balls.

So, now, all you have to do is put vegetables you like in there and add a pinch of salt to the soup. I added sliced tofu, some nappa cabbage, pak choy, and dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked in water to soften beforehand). Oh, and I also made some rice to go with the soup.

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