TherMe: QQ Homemade Fishballs with Only 3 Simple Ingredients

Credits to Sew Chin for perfecting & sharing this fantastic fishball recipe!!

Attempted the fishball recipe in 'Perfection with Thermomix in 7 Days' once but tweaked it slightly & the texture didn't turn out as gd as expected. Thus, I automatically assumed it could be due to the fact that I didn't follow the recipe exactly. However, a few other gfs tried it as well & they found it unsatisfactory too. After trying the ones done by Sew Chin, all of us fell in love with it so we decided to try it ourselves too ;)

Ingredients (1/2 portion):

250g fresh yellowtail fish meat, aka 豆腐鱼 in Cantonese (preferably bought the same day)

230g of water (90% of fish meat)

1.5 tsp pink Himalayan salt

A small bowl of salt water (to wet hands)

A big bowl of ice water

1200g of water

Directions:

1. Fillet the fish from the skeleton then scrape off all the flesh from the skin, in the direction towards the tail.

2. Put both the fish meat & 230g of water into mixing bowl. Blend for 20s / Speed 9 then scrape down the sides & repeat the process again (a total of 3x if preparing a full portion)

3. Next, knead for 30s / Dough Mode (increase to 1min for full portion). Transfer fish paste to a big bowl & set 1s / Turbo followed by 1s / Reverse / Turbo to spin out the residual paste for easy removal.

4. Add in salt to fish paste & mix in evenly till the watery paste curds (becomes harder to mix).

5. Wet both hands with salt water so fish paste won't stick as badly. Put some fish paste onto palm & make a fist. Next, use thumb to gently smoothen top part of paste then slowly squeeze the paste out into fishballs of desired size.

6. Dip a spoon into the salt water then use it to scoop out each fishball from hand before putting into the bowl of ice water to soak for at least 2.5-3 hours (depending on how salty u like them to be) for the extra salt to dissolve inside the water or else the fishballs will be too salty. 

Variation - u can also use the fish paste (without soaking) as fillings for beancurds, green / red chillies, lady fingers, tau pok etc to make your own yong tau foo. Note that while the paste might b a bit salty, we still find it palatable cos the saltiness is balanced by the 'hosts'. 

7. If you intend to store in the fridge overnight, discard the water used to soak the fishballs. Before cooking, add some water to separate the fishballs 1st.

8. Pour 1200g of water into mixing bowl, insert simmering basket then put on the lid to cook 10mins / 120°C / Spoon Speed.

9. Pour the fishballs (seperate into 2-3 batches) through the lid's hole then cook 10mins / 100°C / Speed 2 till they float. Actual cooking duration may vary slightly depending on the size of your fishballs so reduce or extend accordingly. Repeat for the remaining batches.

For non-Thermomix readers, you can still follow the steps & pictures to blend your fish using your normal blender but u may need to allow for additional blending time accordingly, depending on the power of your blender's motor. Then, u'll have to manually 'slam' the meat repeatedly (at least 60-70 times) to achieve the 'QQ' texture.

The texture of the fishballs are almost identical to that of their commercial counterparts but without all the additional flour / additives etc. Even my mum who does her own fishballs the tradtional way told me they're bouncy! One of the main reasons why I love my Thermomix is I'm able to do most of my food from scratch, just like how our grandparents / parents used to do, but in a more efficient & hassle-free way. 

TherMe: Black Sesame 'Chiffon' Cake

Credits to Isabel for teaching this yummy cake during one of the meetings & my cooking kaki for her notes <3

Ingredients:

List A

100g black sesame

100g unbleached plain flour

100g yogurt

60g organic raw sugar

40g cooking oil

7 egg yolks

5g sesame oil

1 tsp baking powder

List B

70g organic raw sugar

7 egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar (will personally prefer to replace with 1 tsp of lemon juice)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Pour sesame into mixing bowl & grind 1min / Speed 10 (accidentally poured in the sesame oil too so blended both together..luckily it turned out alright..hee).

2. Add in remaining ingredients in List A then blend at 30s / Speed 6. Transfer to big bowl (skip this step if u've an extra mixing bowl).

3. Wash mixing bowl & dry thoroughly or use another mixing bowl if u've. Insert 'butterfly' whisk b4 putting List B's ingredients in to whip for 4mins / 37°C / Speed 4. Transfer to another big bowl.

(Note: added another 1min / Speed 4 to get a better whipped texture. Can try increasing 1/2 - 1min each time till u achieve stiff peaks if u prefer a fluffier chiffon)

4. Fold A's batter into B's egg white mixture in 3 batches & transfer to a chiffon tin.

5. Bake for 45mins or until a cake tester skewer or toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the centre of the cake. 

6. Invert the tin immediately on a cooling rack then let it cool completely. Remove tin, cut & serve.

For non-Thermomix readers, you can still follow the steps & pictures to grind the sesame using your normal blender & beat ur batter in a normal mixer but u may need to allow for additional preparation time accordingly.

(Note: Do check if ur blender is able to grind dry ingredients. If it can't, you may blend it together with the sesame oil but the sesame may not be ground as finely, depending on the power of ur blender.) 

Simply love the fragrant of this cake <3 Even though the texture differs slightly from normal chiffon cakes, the moistness of it more than compensates for that! 

TherMe: Braised Pork Rice aka 卤肉饭

The famous Taiwan braised pork rice is one of my faves but those sold commercially tend to be a tad too oily leaving u feeling kinda jerlat towards the end. As a Thermomix advisor, we get to learn a new dish during our weekly meetings so u can imagine my excitement when we were told it's gonna b this dish for the week ;p

Ingredients:

700g of pork belly

Water

1 tsp of salt (preferably pink Himalayan salt / sea salt)

2-3 tbsps of dark soy sauce, depending on how dark u want it to be

1 tbsp of fermented bean paste

1 tbsp of light soy sauce

1 tbsp of organic raw sugar

1 tsp of sesame oil

3 cloves of garlic, ends cut away

10g organic extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

6 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked, drained (retain the water) & sliced

150g of mushroom water

3 pieces of star anise

Directions:

1. Put pork into mixing bowl then add sufficient water to cover pork followed by salt. Par-boil for 20mins / 100°C / Reverse / Spoon Speed.

2. Remove pork then slice to desired thickness. Use a big bowl to marinate pork with dark soy sauce & mix well 1st so that colour will be more even. Add in the remaining seasonings (excluding water) & mix evenly.

3. Pour out the residual water in mixing bowl. Put garlic then set 5s / Reverse / Speed 5. Remove peels & scrap down sides before adding EVOO to sauté at 3mins / Varoma / Spoon Speed.

4. Fix butterfly onto blade then pour in marinated pork including the marinate, mushrooms, mushroom water & star anise & cook for 1hr 10mins / 98°C / Reverse / Spoon Speed. 

5. Lastly, add 5mins / Varoma / Spoon Speed to help thicken the sauce. Pour pork & gravy over cooked rice & hard-boiled egg. Best served warm with some steamed vegetables.

The braised pork can be prepared in advance then stored in individual portions either in chiller (overnight) or freezer (if more than 1 day). Simply cook rice in simmering basket with eggs on top while steaming the required pork portions in the Varoma dish as well as vegs on the Varoma tray & Voila! A quick meal ready in no time at all ~.<

For non-Thermomix readers, you can still tweak & follow the steps but simmer over low heat in a wok or pot on the stove. Stir occasionally but when sauce has thickened, stir more frequently to prevent it from getting burnt.

I'm glad e dish turned out not oily. Meat was well-flavoured & texture was perfect, tender yet not too soft..one word to sum it up, marvelicious!!

TherMe: Pasta with Home-made Tomato Sauce

Adapted from the Tomato Sauce recipe in 'Thermomix The Basic Cook Book'

I've cooked the original tomato sauce as a base for pizzas numerous times & its delish! Was making another batch so decided to prep extra for our pasta dinner.

Ingredients (serves 1 toddler + 2 adults):

150g onions, peeled & halved

1 clove of garlic

60g of organic extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

1kg of fresh cherry tomatoes

1 1/4 tsp of dried basil 

1 1/4 tsp of organic raw sugar

1/2 tsp of pink Himalayan salt

250g of minced pork

150g (pre-cooked) of desired pasta, cooked to al-dente then rinse lightly with room temp water

50g of frozen organic peas

Directions:

1. Add in onions, garlic & EVOO into Thermomix mixing bowl then chop 5s / Speed 5 followed by sauté 7mins / 120°C / Speed 1.

2. Add tomatoes, basil, sugar & salt then chop 15s / Speed 5.

3. Cook 30mins / 100°C / Speed 2. Keep half for future usage (base for pizzas, vegs etc).

4. Pour in minced pork, cooked pasta & peas then cook 3mins / 100°C / Reverse / Speed 1.

For non-Thermomix readers, you can still tweak the prepaprtions by either chopping the ingredients manually or using a normal blender. Follow the steps but simmer over low heat in a wok or pot on the stove. Stir occasionally & when sauce has thickened, stir more frequently to prevent it from getting burnt.

It's been awhile since I cooked tomato-based pasta for BB so he kinda finished his portion in record time..lolz! A keeper for sure <3 

Before having my TherMe, I used to prep the pasta sauce in my Avent Steamer & Blender. Due to size constraints, I'm unable to do larger quantities. Furthermore, this definitely tastes more fragrant due to the sautéing of ingredients as compared to just plain steaming.

TherMe: Kid-friendly Char Siew (Non-Baked Version)

This recipe was highly recommended by one of my cooking chums but I adapted it to be more kid-friendly for my boy.

Ingredients:

650g of pork belly

3 cloves of garlic

5 tbsps of brown sugar

2 tbsps of light soy sauce

1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp of homemade peanut butter

3/4 tbsp of Simply Natural organic blk bean sauce (thick)

2 tsps of dark soy sauce

150g water (Note: can increase to 200g cos sauce abit thick)

Directions:

1. Chop garlic at 5s / Reverse / S5.

2. Marinate pork with all seasonings, except water, & place it in chiller for at least 4hrs.

3. Add marinated pork with sauce & water into Thermomix mixing bowl then cook for 45mins / 120°C / Reverse / Spoon Speed.

4. Slice to desired thickness, pour gravy over & serve warm.

For non-Thermomix readers, you can still follow the steps & simmer on low heat in a pot over the stove but u'll need to stir occasionally & when sauce has thickened, stir more frequently to prevent it from getting burnt.

As this is a non-baked version, you don't see the charred parts normally found on char siew which I feel makes it healthier actually. However, the meat is tender, flavourful & u can taste the fragrant of the roasted peanuts. It may not taste like its commercially-sold counterparts but both my parents enjoyed it tremendously & it definitely deserves the thumbs up given by my boy d(^.^)b

Best part of this is all that I need to do is put the marinated meat in, set the time, temperature & stirring speed & Thermomix will do its magic! No more watching of fire, stirring constantly to prevent burnts etc & I'm free to do anything while it's been cooked ~.<