‘Pishbol‘ are the famous Filipino fishballs (Filipinos pronounce a P as an F and vice versa) available from street vendors known as ‘manong.’ ‘Tusok-tusok‘ simple means ‘skewered,’ or, more literally, ‘poke-poke.’ The slightly sweet, soy-based sauce is termed ‘manong sauce‘ after the vendors themselves – each having their own variation on the classic recipe.
Filipino fishballs are adapted from a boiled, fish dumpling-like recipe introduced by Chinese immigrants. The locals adapted the Chinese recipe to frying, and invented the manong sauce for dipping. The tusok-tusok serving format makes fishballs the ultimate Filipino street food.
There are many adaptations that include chicken, pork and squid.
We have listed this as a ‘starter’ for convenience, but it is really snack food.
Pishbol tusok-tusok
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Loading...Ingredients
- For the fishballs:
- 500ml vegetable oil
- 500g white fish fillets (no skin)
- 1 tbsp spring onion, minced
- 30g carrot, grated
- 1 stick of lemongrass, finely chopped
- Sprig of coriander, finely chopped
- 1 medium onion, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 100g cornflour
- 75g plain flour
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 85g water
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the manong sauce:
- 500ml water water
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp cassava flour (or cornflour)
- 125g brown sugar
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 red chilli, chopped
- Pinch of sea salt
Instructions
For the fishballs:
Heat the oil in a wok or saucepan until very hot.
Steam the fish for 10 minutes and chop it up finely. Combine with the carrot, spring onions, lemongrass, coriander, onions, and garlic in a large mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well to combine. Add the sugar, cornflour, flour and water. Mix again until it will form a ball. And more water if needed. Add the baking powder and mix again to combine.
Using two spoons, form some of the mixture into a 2-inch ball, and drop it straight into the hot oil. Repeat five times, until there are six balls cooking. Cook the balls until golden brown, then transfer them to a bowl lined with kitchen paper using a spider sieve. Repeat the procedure for the whole mixture.
Skewer the fishballs into portions. This recipe will serve 6 people as a snack or starter.
For the manong sauce:
In a cold saucepan, mix the water, sugar, soy sauce, onion, garlic, chilli, salt and cassava flour until smooth. Heat and bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Cook for 5 mins until thickened. Serve as a dip for the fishballs.
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