Fishballs Bombay

My mother used to make this this dish, and when she did, we sort of looked at each other and though "fishballs in India???" because we thought that the Norwegians had invented the fishballs and that they probably never had heard of it in India. Then my Indian friend, Sheila, cooked me a meal in London, and guess what? The main ingredient was fishballs, and not only that, they were Chinese, so they obviously have fishballs all over the place.... although when that is said and having tasted the Chinese ones, which could have been made from flower in comparison to ours, I say - and I am not the least bit biased - ours are better and they contain nothing but fish! And if you have a choice of Norwegian fishballs, go for the ones from Vesterålen, they are our best.

For 4-5 people you need:
1 litre tin of fish balls
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of wheat flower
curry
salt

rice
raisins
shredded coconut
peanuts
organge peeled and cut in thin slices or small cubes (how much of each of these is optional)

carrots (1/2-1 per person)
apples (1/4-1/2 per person)
ginger (1 teapoon shredded)
horseraddich (1 teasspoon shredded)
lemon juice (juice of half a lemon)
oil (soy, sunflower or other flavour-weak oil) twice as much as lemon juice
sugar or sweetener

Start by making the salad: Shred carrots and apples (as much as you like/have) and a little bit of horseraddich, and make a dressing of lemon juice, oil, ginger and sweetener (Taste it, it's supposed to taste very sweet and very sour, but good, you are supposed to like it). Pour it over, mix the salad well and put it in the fridge. Carrots contain a lot of vitamine A, which is good for the eyes and the lungs (eat carrots if you smoke), but they are only dissolvable in oil, so now the salad is sitting there getting healthier, so to speak....

Now to the fishballs. Melt the butter in a big enough sacepan (a teflon pan will make the dishes easier), add the butter and curry (optional, I normally take about 1 teaspoon at this stage and add more later if it's not hot enough), then the flower, and then gradually stir in the liquid from the fishball tin till it makes a sauce as thick as you like it. Let the sauce boil up each time before you add more liquid and you will always know how thick the sauce will be. Normally it needs a bit more liquid than what's in the tin, so add a bit of milk. Taste off the sauce with salt or pepper (or a fish builion cube instead of the salt) and add the fishballs. Leave it to simmer while you cook the rice, and all the dishes for this meal should be done at the same time. Sprinckle, raisins, peanuts, shredded coconut and pieces of oranges over the dish before serving. And if you don't do the dishes right away, make sure to fill the pans with water, as both rice and fishsauce turn into glue if left unattended to over night - I say no more!

I am not sure anybody in India ever had a dish like this, but it sure taste good in Norway in the winter - and fishballs are still quite affordable.....