Crispy fish balls with sweet & sour sauce

chinese-ny-crispy-fish-balls-sweet-sour-sauce-jan20

We’ve made our own dipping sauce, but sweet chilli or hoisin would work just fine

Feeds 4 • Ready in 30 mins, plus chilling

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 x 200g packs Co-op Irresistible jumbo cooked king prawns, roughly chopped
  • 225g can water chestnuts, drained
  • 4 spring onions, roughly chopped
  • 2cm ginger, roughly chopped
  • 1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped, plus extra slices to garnish
  • 2 tsp Co-op reduced salt dark soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp cornflour
  • Vegetable oil, for frying
  • Coriander leaves, to garnish

FOR THE SAUCE

  • 1 tbsp Co-op tomato ketchup
  • 1 tsp chilli sauce
  • 1 tsp Co-op clear honey
  • 2 tsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tsp Co-op toasted sesame oil

METHOD

  1. To make the fish balls, put the chopped prawns in a food processor with all the remaining ingredients, apart from the oil and coriander. Blitz until you have a paste, then place the mixture into a bowl and chill for 30 mins.
  2. For the sweet and sour sauce, whisk everything together in a small bowl and set aside until you’re ready to serve.
  3. Heat 3cm oil in a large frying pan — it’s ready when a cube of bread dropped in turns brown in 30 seconds. Working in batches to make 16, shape heaped tablespoons of the fish mixture into balls, then fry for 1-2 mins on each side or until golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and put on kitchen paper while you cook the others.
  4. Garnish the fish balls with the coriander and chilli, then serve with the sauce.