October 24, 2014

Fish Ball Soup Rice Noodles 魚蛋湯米粉

Fish Balls,  Soup, Rice Noodles, rice sticks, 魚蛋, 湯, 米粉, recipe, chinese, soup noodles, fish slices

Sluuuuurp!  Nothing like a good ol' bowl of chinese soup noodles to warm you up on a cool windy day!  Not that it's that cold yet here in Hong Kong, but it's slowly and surely (I hope!) getting there.  Slightly cooler days now with rough and tumble winds sweeping in from the sea.  So on the other (slightly cooler) day we were feeling lazy for the cooking and all the washing up and stuff and we were like, hey, why don't we just make a couple of easy hot bowls of noodles for dinner?!  Sluuuuurp!
 
What we ended up with, this delectable bowl of Fish Ball Soup Rice Noodle, or 魚蛋湯米粉, is soooo easy to prepare and soooo yummilicious to your tummy and (yeah!) super easy to clean up after!  Plus I just love fish balls, they're so damn sexy!

Fish Balls,  Soup, Rice Noodles, rice sticks, 魚蛋, 湯, 米粉, recipe, chinese, soup noodles, fish slices

One of the fabulous food things in Hong Kong is being able to purchase fresh fish balls 魚蛋 and fish slices 魚片 (and fresh almost everything else!)  The Cantonese know that most things taste the best when they're fresh as a daisy.  Luckily, we've got a couple of providers of fresh fish balls right nearby, some in the wet market (look for fishballs at your tofu stalls) and some at your regular noodle shops who sell their balls on the side.   

We recently patronized a shop that sells frozen fish balls of all kinds, cuttle fish, squid, fish, beef, pork, etc., and also sells super fresh fish balls that they make right in the back of the shop!  Yum, yum, very delicious!  Fresh fish meat transformed into perfectly rounded ping pong sized balls that are sweet and tender yet springy and chewy at the same time.  Yummilicious!

Fish Balls,  Soup, Rice Noodles, rice sticks, 魚蛋, 湯, 米粉, recipe, chinese, soup noodles, fish slices

The only other major thing you will need for this quick, easy and tasty bowl of noodles is some rice noodles, or rice sticks, or 米粉.  These noodles are made of rice, obviously, and are valued not only for being tasty but also for being quite easily digestible.  (Great for when you're feeling under the weather!)

There are many types of rice noodles, thicker and thinner.  We've used a type called Dongguan Rice Sticks 東莞米粉, which are dehydrated rice noodles that come packaged in cakes (see above), which is easily available at the supermarkets and wet markets.  Whatever size you get is fine, just adjust cooking time for thicker noodles. 

You need to cook just enough for noodles to be 'al dente'!  (Note: Please don't confuse rice vermicelli, a thinner type of rice noodles with chinese vermicelli, also known as cellophane noodles, which is made from mung bean starch.)

Fish Balls,  Soup, Rice Noodles, rice sticks, 魚蛋, 湯, 米粉, recipe, chinese, soup noodles, fish slices

Now toss in a bit of vegetable, maybe some mushrooms, a lovely bit of Jinhua ham to liven up the soup and you're done.  Sooo easy and sooo slurpily yuumilicious!  This will warm you up and fill your hungry tummy!  Hope you enjoy our good ol' bowl of chinese soup noodles!

Fish Balls,  Soup, Rice Noodles, rice sticks, 魚蛋, 湯, 米粉, recipe, chinese, soup noodles, fish slices
Fish Ball Soup Rice Noodles Recipe
魚蛋湯米粉
(makes 4 bowls of noodles)  (Prep time: 2 mins  Cook time: 5 mins)

Ingredients:

  • 4 cakes dongguan rice sticks  東莞米粉  (or whatever rice noodle you prefer)
  • 8 cups chicken stock
  • 16 fish balls 魚蛋
  • 16 fish slices 魚片
  • 10 straw mushrooms, sliced in half
  • 2 tbsp Jinhua ham, thinly sliced
  • 2 tbsp spring onion, chopped to rounds

Directions:

Pour stock in large pot and heat over medium high heat.  When stock boils add Jin Hua ham, fish balls and slices and mushrooms and let simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.  

Meanwhile in separate pot, boil enough water to generously cover the rice sticks.  When water is boiling add in rice sticks and simmer over low heat for 4 minutes.  Taste test to see if noodle just cooked through.  Remove cooked rice sticks immediately into a strainer and run under cool water for 1/2 minute to stop the cooking.

Add a good handful and a half of cooked rice sticks to each of your noodle bowls.  Then ladle hot soup to cover and arrange the fish balls and fish slices on top.  Sprinkle with chopped spring onions and serve up piping hot!

Tip:  A great way to add fun to your home prepared noodles feast is to have a bowl of Fried Fish Skin Chips, or  炸魚皮,  on the table.  (It's in the pictures above, that long grey and beige undulating form to one side.)  These super delicioso crispy fish skin chips are the perfect thing to dip and eat to go along with your good ol' bowl of chinese soup noodles! 

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2 comments:

  1. Add chilli oil/sauce, lots and lots of it.

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    Replies
    1. OMG, you're right! Thanks Cindy, I totally forgot! ~ ellen

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