Sierra Leonean Fish Balls is a traditional Sierra Leonean recipe for a classic snack of deep fried fish balls flavoured with chillies and parsley and bound with flour and eggs. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Sierra Leonean version of: Sierra Leonean Fish Balls.
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This is a classic deep fried fish balls recipe from Sierra Leone that's typically served as a snack. You can use just about any fish (saltwater or freshwater) in this recipe. I used mackerel, as it's one of our favourites and you could just as easily use smoked or even tinned fish (as they do in some West African countries).
Ingredients:
340g (12 oz) fish fillets
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
2 red chillies, finely chopped (or to taste)
12 sprigs parsley or coriander (cilantro), finely chopped
40g (1/2 cup) breadcrumbs (panko or matzo are good)
2 large eggs
30g (1/4 cup) plain flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
1 seasoning cube (Maggi) [note this needs to be the type you can crumble]
Method:
Place fish fillets in a cooking pot, add 2 tbsp water and season lightly with salt and white pepper. Let it simmer on low heat for about 5-10 minutes until the fish is soft and flaky and the water has all dried up.
Transfer the fish to a bowl, remove the skin and use a fork to mash it up. Add in onion, garlic, chillies, parsley, seasoning cube, 1 egg and 2 tablespoons of the flour (reserve the remainder of the flour) then crumble in the seasoning cube. Mix all the ingredients together lightly then shape the mixture into balls. Note, if you use a measuring scoop, then the balls will be of more equal size. It may be easiest to shape the balls if you occasionally wet your hands with water between shaping them.
When the fish balls have all been shaped, crack the remaining egg in a shallow bowl and beat gently. Place the reserved flour in a second bowl and the breadcrumbs in a third. Take a fish ball, roll first in the flour, then in an egg and finally in the breadcrumbs. I like my fish balls nicely coated so I repeated this process a second time.
Once they are done, transfer the breaded fish balls to a tray and repeat the process until all the balls have been breaded.
Pour oil in a deep pan over medium heat to a depth of 10cm (4 in) and heat to 175°C (350°F). Once the oil is hot, carefully drop the fish balls into the oil and fry for 4 minutes on one side, before flipping over and cooking for 3 minutes on the other side. Remove with a spider or slotted spoon, drain on kitchen paper as you cook then ext batch.
