Cabbage Roll with Fish Paste

Chinese cabbage can be quite versatile. Some like it stirfried with dried prawns or as a garnishing for noodles, others like the sweetness it brings to clear chicken soup. I had a head of chinese cabbage which was a little wilted. Instead of throwing it away, I used it as a wrapper to roll a box of fish paste I bought from the wet market. I will blog about homemade fish paste shortly!

 

Cabbage Roll with Fish Paste Recipe
Ingredients:
1 head of chinese cabbage/ napa cabbage
250g fish paste (spanish mackerel)
1 tbsp of carrots, diced finely
1 tbsp of water chestnuts, diced finely
Spring onion, washed & cut into 15 cm long
Salt & pepper to taste
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 small egg, beaten

Method:

1. Cut out 10 cabbage leaves from its root. Wash & steam on a plate for 5 minutes. The leaves would have softened and turned slightly translucent. Let it cool before using.
2. While waitng remove fish paste from container and onto a chopping board. Prepare a small bowl of cold water on the side. Wet your hand with cold water and roll fish paste into a ball before smacking it back on the chopping board. Do this a few times while constantly wetting your hands. The fish paste will feel slightly "springy" after you've given it a good smacking. 
3. While smacking, gradually add the carrot and water chestnuts into the paste.
4. Take a cabbage leave and place it on a flat surface. Take a tablespoonful of fish paste and spread it on on the surface of the leave. Then start rolling the cabbage leave from its rootbase upwards. 
5. To hold the roll together, tie with a knot with a piece of spring onion.
6. Place all cabbage rolls on a plate. Steam for 10 minutes. You should see some liquid over on the plate.
7. Heat up a tbsp of cooking oil in a wok. Fry the garlic till fragrant, add oyster sauce and left over liquid from steaming plate. Take wok off heat and slowly stir in beaten egg.
8. Arrange cabbage roll on a serving plate and pour egg sauce over.