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1
Prepare the ingredients.
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2
Finely chop shallots, garlic, white stems of scallions; chop dill into small pieces.
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3
Apply some cooking oil on the mortar then add featherback fish.
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4
Add shallots, garlic, white stems of scallions, dill, ground black pepper, seasoning powder into the mortar and mix well.
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5
You can use hands to knead the fish paste until combined well.
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6
The more you knead, the more chewy the fish cake will be.
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7
After kneading, smear the fish paste with a pestle or spoon in about 10 minutes.
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8
Add fish sauce and continue smearing in 5 minutes.
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9
When adding fish sauce, fish paste can be crumbled a bit, but no worry!
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10
Fish paste will be chewy again after being smeared again.
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11
Add 1 spoon of cooking oil into the mortar (to make fish soft when fried).
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12
Continue smearing.
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13
Total time for smearing should be 20 minutes to have delicious fish paste.
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14
You can mix all ingredients and smear in 10 minutes if you don't have much time.
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15
You can use a powder mixer (or food processor) to puree but it won't be as chewy as done by hand.
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16
When you're done with pureeing, fish is OK when it turns white.
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17
Store the fish paste in plastic bags, big or small as desired.
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18
Use a cutting board to press hard and push out evenly to 4 corners.
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19
It should be 1-1.2 cm thick to be good when fried.
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20
You can fry the whole piece, or cut into smaller pieces or shape in balls as desired.
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21
Or store separated parts in freezer to cook later.
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22
For me, I fry the whole piece of fish paste and cut into bite-size pieces.
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23
This dish is best served hot.
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24
Use with chili dipping sauce and rice.
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25
For kids, use salty fish sauce with ground black pepper instead.
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26
Or use chili garlic fish sauce to your liking.
