🍽️ Dahao Fish Balls

Fish balls from Dahao, white, bouncy and fresh.

Dahao fish balls are a traditional specialty of Dahao port in the Haojiang district of Shantou, born from the fresh sea fish off the local coast. Cooks choose firm-fleshed ocean fish such as narrow-barred mackerel, bone and fillet them, then scrape the meat with the back of a knife into a paste, add salt and stir in one direction until it becomes bouncy, before squeezing out balls that are set and rested in warm water. The finished balls are white, round and elastic, holding their shape even after long cooking, and when bitten into they are fine, smooth and sweet with almost no starchy feel. The classic serving is fish-ball soup, clear broth with chopped celery and white pepper, lifted as soon as the balls float; they also go into beef hotpot or kway teow. Dahao locals serve a bowl of fish-ball soup at festivals and banquets and prize balls pounded fresh, making this a representative taste of Shantou's coastal fish-and-rice food culture.