#25 - How to: Bite-sized Taupok balls

Can we just take a moment to relish the fact that it's a SATURDAY?! All y'all finally made it to the the weekends! For me, I'm about to start school and I'm not too sure how I really feel about it. I'm excited for all the new things I'll be learning and doing something productive everyday. However, I'm not too excited about the workload and the fact that school is starting. Yeah, I know. It's a feeling that is going to take a while to understand. Also! My school had sent me an email telling us that they have added a new 'Wardrobe Collection' for those who don't abide by the dress code. Wow. I'm looking forward to the Fall fashion style that the school would be testing on students. HAHA (cue laughter)

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I for one have never seen any food stall that sells what I'm about to show. So, I thought why not share about how to make them. Maybe it'll inspire you, maybe not? I can guarantee that it will be delicious and your taste buds will be calling out for more.

Ingredients you'll need are :

• Minced chicken meat 
• Fish meat 
• Mushrooms
• Spring Onions
• Carrots (diced)
• Soy sauce
• Sesame Oil
• Chinese cooking wine (a.k.a 花雕酒)
• Pepper
• Corn flour (depends on how much of the filling you have. more = more. It will help the mixture to stick)
• Egg yolk (this will help the mixture to not only stick together but also makes it more fragrant)
• Taupok (*SUPER IMPORTANT IF NOT YOU AIN'T GON' MAKE ANYTHING*)

In total, I spent : $10+ 

So, the things that I needed to spend on were the meat and the taupok. I did about a 100 servings but don't be taken aback by the amount it's not tedious at all. For the mixture, I just threw in the meat and vegetables together and gave them a good mix till everything is one big chunka meat. The sesame oil and cooking wine were added to give it fragrance. The pepper was added to sorta strip away any fishy smell. Lastly, the soy sauce was to give it flavor but I adjusted accordingly since the fish meat that I'd bought had MSG added.

For the taupok, I bought the bigger sized ones so my grandma and I thought of many creative ways to present the taupok balls and also to be able to make enough for everyone. In the end, we stuck with mini taupok balls or what my grandma would say "GOLD INGOTS!" HUAT AH!!!! (cue laughter)

Taking this big piece, I cut it into four. Then, for each piece I cut the middle just enough so that it won't tear open when I invert them. The trick when inverting is to push the middle or the corner of the piece in first then try as much as possible to be delicate with pushing the rest in. Of course, practice makes perfect! The following picture shows the progression. The end result is getting the coral-like interior to be outside so that I'll end up with a crispy delight!

Filling wise, we didn't want to put too much because the outside gets cooked really fast and we don't want people having to eat charcoal balls. Another note is that taupok by nature is very absorbent so therefore, it absorbs A LOT of oil so make sure that the oil is hot before cooking. While cooking them, I learnt to not over-fry them because the 'juice' from the meat will be gone. So, as long as you can see the meat turn white and the inside is more solid, it's time to take it out. 

photo blog : http://foxusphotos.tumblr.com/

Eventually, they will turn brown even if I took them out when they were golden but rest assured, they are perfectly fine. Of course, they taste better when just cooked! I'm really glad that my CG mates loved it! So, I hope that anyone who reads this would too :)

Alright, have a blessed weekend and..

Thanks for reading, x.