Chapter 22
Fish Balls
Zhuang Zhuang drank from the spoon and relished the taste of the liquid. “Mmm.. It’s sweet and fragrant. Yummy.” He couldn’t describe it exactly, but it was delicious.
Xiaoguo poured the coconut juice into the casserole. With a swift heavy stroke, she cut open the coconut with the machete, revealing the coconut meat inside. Xiaoguo pointed to the pulp. “This is coconut pulp.”
Xiaoguo cut out a piece of the pulp for Zhuang Zhuang. He tried it and said, “Mmm… crunchy and sweet.”
Xiaoguo watched the boy in amusement. “You only know how to say sweet.”
Zhuang Zhuang looked at his mother sheepishly and smiled. Xiaoguo cut another piece for him to nibble on, and quickly went on to remove all the pulp and placed it in the clay pot. She did the same for the other coconut and was done in a flash. Only water and a pinch of salt was added to the coconut pulp in the claypot. The mixture was then left to simmer on the stove.
With the stew put on boil, Xiaoguo began to make the fish balls. Fish Balls were simple and difficult at the same time. The hardest part was the stirring process—as the fish paste had to be stirred vigorously.
The fish she had caught was a grass carp. There weren’t too many fish bones to remove. After deboning, she skinned the fish and sliced the filet into thick slices. Then, she started mincing the sliced fish with the back of the chopper. When the fish meat had been mashed, it was placed in a basin and mixed with cold water. The water was added in small parts at different intervals. She kept stirring continuously in the same direction while adding water. After adding water for the third time, the fish paste had become slightly springy. Xiaoguo then added the egg whites and some salt for taste.
At the same time, Xiaoguo had a pot of water being heated up. While the water was still lukewarm, Xiaoguo scooped out globs of fish paste with a spoon and dropped them one by one into the pot. While the white fish balls were left in the water to cook, Xiaoguo still had half a portion of the fish paste left. She began stuffing the fish balls—with the leftover meat filling she made in the morning—turning them into stuffed fish balls.
The fish balls had to be taken out of the pot before the water started to boil. As they began to float to the surface, Xiaoguo set aside a basin of cold water and dropped the freshly cooked fish balls into the basin. This will make them more springy and bouncy. Xiaoguo picked up a fish ball and threw it on the table. As she watched it bounce off the table, Xiaoguo knew the fish balls were a success.
Xiaoguo went through the vegetable basket to check if there were any greens that they could use for the hotpot. She remembered that there were some baby cabbages. After rummaging around, she found two heads of the baby cabbages, a bunch of lettuce and a handful of endives.
Xiaoguo washed the vegetables and placed them on a plate. At that moment, the fragrance of coconut chicken started wafting out. Xiaoguo lifted the pot lid. The pheasant was quite fat, and the oil from its skin was floating on the surface of the milky white soup. This resulted in a wonderful juxtaposition of flavors from the pheasant meat and the coconut.
The soup had been stewing for almost four hours. Xiaoguo brought the casserole and a small stove to the dining table. Zhuang Zhuang had already sat down by the table. Guided by the fragrance from the coconut chicken, he had gotten himself busy getting the bowls and chopsticks. By the time Xiaoguo had placed the fish balls and vegetables on the table, Zhuang Zhuang was almost falling into the casserole.
“All right, let’s eat,” said Xiaoguo. She didn’t waste time teasing Zhuang Zhuang and signaled him to start eating.
Xiaoguo was afraid that Zhuang Zhuang would be scalded, so she scooped out a bowl of soup and set it aside to let it cool down. She took out a drumstick and placed it on a small plate for Zhuang Zhuang. Looking at the drumstick in front of him, Zhuang Zhuang was so anxious to eat it immediately, but he remembered his mother’s instructions to blow on it first and chew slowly. So Zhuang Zhuang rose to his feet and started blowing on the drumstick.
Xiaoguo took a sip of the soup. She could not help but sigh in contentment. On a cold day like this, it is a must to drink some hot soup to warm the body. She felt completely gratified.
The pheasant meat was not easy to cook. If it was stewed for too long, the meat would be too dry, but If the cooking time was too short, it would be difficult to chew. Xiaoguo has gotten the timing just right. As soon as the meat entered her mouth, it almost melted. It was extremely tender.
Xiaoguo gave Zhuang Zhuang more meat and dropped some fish balls into the hotpot. As the fish balls were already cooked, they just had to be scalded for another three to four minutes. When time was up, Xiaoguo scooped one fish ball out for Zhuang Zhuang. The boy had long been curious about the taste of this. The texture of the fishball was chewy and bouncy. He could taste the rich aroma of fish with every bite. It was so delicious. Zhuang Zhuang asked for more. Xiaoguo then served him another bowl. When he took a bite of the fishball, meat juices gushed out from within. Zhuang Zhuang was surprised. “There’s something in this.”
Xiaoguo glanced at Zhuang Zhuang. “It’s a fish ball with pork filling.”
Zhuang Zhuang tucked in with joy. He had never eaten anything so delicious. Or rather, everything his mother cooked was so novel and delicious.
Xiaoguo felt a great sense of accomplishment when she saw Zhuang Zhuang eating happily. She could not help but eat a lot with the boy. Xiaoguo reminded Zhuang Zhuang to not just eat the meat, but to also eat some greens. As she spoke, she passed him a bowl of vegetables. Zhuang Zhuang didn’t pick his food either, and ate whatever his mother gave him. In the end, they finished the big pot of chicken and fish balls and let out an extremely long burp.