🍽️ Xiansha Fish Balls

Hand-made fish balls, bouncy and sweet.

Xiansha fish balls are a traditional hand-made fish ball from Xiansha village in Gaobu town, Dongguan. Fresh freshwater fish, usually mud carp or grass carp, is boned and filleted, the meat scraped into a paste with a knife, salted and stirred in one direction until it becomes gluey, then hand-squeezed into balls that set in warm water. Xiansha makers prize hand-pounded fish paste; the balls come out white, bouncy and holding their shape after long boiling, with a tender, sweet flesh and almost no starchy feel. They are most often served in clear fish-ball soup with scallion and white pepper, or dropped into hotpot and rice noodles. Historically, Dongguan's water town was crisscrossed by rivers, and fishermen lived on fish; making fish balls was a home craft to preserve meat and add texture. Today Xiansha fish balls are a famous Dongguan snack, often vacuum-packed as souvenirs, reflecting the fish-and-rice tradition of the lower Dong River water towns.